IMO, of course.

25. Link Vs. Cloud Strife (2003)

Link 48.39% 71438
Cloud Strife 51.61% 76199
TOTAL VOTES 147637
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k3/sum03b61.jpg


As the 2003 Summer Contest started to wind down, people began saying that there was no excitement left and that Link was due for an easy win, especially after he beat down Samus.

And then Cloud broke 66% on Sonic, and people began to worry. It was clear that Cloud had grown but by how much? Well, we all found out on the day of his match against Link, a match, that despite all pre-contest preconceptions, he won.

Now, there is nothing better in one of these contests than a surprise and this has to be one of the biggest we've ever seen. After Cloud showed his power, the result wasn't surprising, but if you had told any contest experts this before the contest started you would have been laughed out of the topic.

This match, more than any other single one represents the spirit of unpredictablity that surrounds these contests. Anything can happen in the year between them, just like what happened here.

Oh, and it's also the most popular GameFAQS Contest Match of all time.

---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

tag

~*The Metal Gear Master*~
---§³---
In Memory of a Patriot who Saved the World
Women come and go, but Metal Gear is forever.

Yep, at least the right character won once.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

24. Mega Man Vs. Ms. Pac-Man (2002)

Mega Man 92.3% 63039
Ms. Pac-Man 7.7% 5257
TOTAL VOTES 68296
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k2/sum02b29.jpg

This match will go down in history for at least one reason. As far as I know, this is the only contest match to get its picture changed due to popular outcry. Mega Man's pic was so bad, that Ceej gave in to Board 8 and changed it.

Aside from that, Mega Man's blowout was the most impressive performance seen thus far in our first contest, and was the largest blowout in a character contest for over two years.

Link's 84% win over Little Mac was the biggest blow-out the contest had seen and at this point people legitimately thought that a 90% blowout was impossible. Mega Man proved all the naysayers wrong and made himself a contest legend all at once with this match.

23. Mega Man Vs. Sephiroth (2002)

Mega Man 49.49% 48185
Sephiroth 50.51% 49172
TOTAL VOTES 97357
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k2/sum02b56.jpg

I'll be honest; I don't remember this match being really exciting. When I looked at the final results a couple years ago I thought, "Woah! Was it really that close? I thought it was more like 52%." Apparently, Mega Man had been leading most of the day as well, and Sephiroth had to come back in the afternoon just to win. I had forgotten all that as well.

I don't know if I was just away most of the day for this poll, but apparently it was a hell of a more exciting day than I remember. Regardless, this match was the second in a string of three close matches that would cause the biggest board explosion we'd ever see, and although it was nowhere near the first and second one in terms of excitement, it was a good match on its own.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

Taggage
---
Married to PepsiPlunge June 01, 2005: HERO'S PLUNGE!
3 hours, 10 minutes, 3 seconds and 501 posts later, FFD and Pepsi summoned Ring of Honor.

That's all for now.

Sorry for the last match. I remember all the rest, honestly.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

tag
---
The Dragon shall be Reborn, and he shall break the world again by his coming.

tag!
---
Accio Captain Planet! See? A one post summon!
Detective in Sir Chris' Police

TAG body spray doesn't work on Board 8 for obvious reasons
---
Elder:"Cecil, you must become a paladin!"
Cecil: " And give up this kick-ass armor for fruity robes and lavender hair? **** no!" - OFS

I'd probably put your #25 as #1, in all honesty, with Pac-Man/Scorpion at #2 and Magus/Knuckles at #3.
---
Voltch is infinitely better than me at being a Guru. Then again, given my score, that's not saying much. Congrats, though.

Frog vs Master Chief had best be in the top 3.
---
MasterMage119/Adept Of Aiur

The biggest problem with Megaman/Seph 2002 is that it was inbetween Sonic/Samus and Mario/Cloud. You can guess the implications of that.
---
Q: Why was Chris Benoit kicked out of the gas station?
A: Because he was carrying matches.

[This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

tag
---
Nominate CATS,Jay Solano,Weedle and Ifnkovhgroghprm for sc2k6

Tag
---
http://p104.ezboard.com/bpivillage

Hmm...
---
Original Account: Doctor Clarinet; Created 11/1/03; Banned 8/18/05

22. Ganondorf Dragmire Vs. Magus Zeal (2003)

Ganondorf 49.7% 54529
Magus 50.3% 55179
TOTAL VOTES 109708
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k3/sum03b34.jpg

This match was always a personal favorite of mine. I was alone in picking Ganon to win this match when brackets closed, and by the end of the first round, I was positive my prediction was wrong.

Well, so was everyone else. The match was supposed to be an obvious win for Magus, and it started off fairly well in his favor. Magus had 56% at his peak in the early morning hours and some people that stayed up, went back to bed thinking the match was over. However, once the morning vote rolled around, Ganondorf started a massive comeback and forced Magus's lead under 51%. As the day vote continued on, Ganondorf kept cutting Magus's lead, albeit by less than before. He came back at least 2000 votes if memory serves me correctly.

However, by evening Ganon was gaining less and less votes per update, and when the night vote rolled in, Magus regained his voting bloc and managed to increase his lead enough to stop Ganon who had brought him to 50.19% at his lowest.

Although, Ganondorf's comeback was eventually halted it was the largest one at its time, and the closeness of this match was a huge shock to the board, who thought Magus would make Link sweat.

21. Solid Snake Vs. Tanner (2004)

Solid Snake 94.3% 74251
Tanner 5.7% 4492
TOTAL VOTES 78743
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k4/sum04b16.jpg

One look at the poll results should tell you why I have this poll on the list. Although Mega Man and later Link had proved to us that breaking 90% in a contest was not impossible, they had showed us it was hard to come by. Link is Link, and Mega Man had coincidentally been pitted against two of three least popular characters to ever see a contest.

Lo and behold, the next Noble Nine member to break the 90% barrier would be Snake, the weakest of the bunch. This was particularly shocking, considering that this was by far Snake's weakest year. Not only did he break 90%, her broke 94% and went on to score the biggest blowout in Summer Contest history.

It takes a special kind of suck for a character to lose that badly, and it turned out Tanner was that kind of character. What's even more mystifying is that Tanner was actually *nominated* to be in the contest.

One final note: Although this match, and Mega Man's first match both made the list, LOZ Vs. Adventure will not make its appearance later. Why is it absent despite being the biggest Contest blowout of all time? To put it simply, it was obvious. Everyone knew LOZ was breaking 90% and it even breaking 95% was not all *that* surprising. Mega Man's was for previously stated reasons, and as for this match. . .

Tanner had a final extrapolated ranking of 3.52% against 2004 Link. He wouldn't even be projected to break 4%. That's how much he sucks. Adventure may have failed to break 5% in a match, but at least they wouldn't allow CATS to break 80% on them as Tanner would be projected to do.


That's all for now.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

*expects the top three to be the first three Mario/Crono matches*
---
"I'm sorry, that's not vague enough for me. Could you be a little
less specific?" -Ryudo, Grandia II

nice, I'm enjoying this. a comment:

21. Solid Snake Vs. Tanner (2004)


looks like someone needs to join the Jay Solano army!
---
xyzzy

*expects the top three to be the first three Mario/Crono matches*

Maybe the first two, but the third was booooooring.
---
"A huge void in her heart. It is filled not by darkness, but kindness from others." - Presea Combatir, the Empty Soul

Interesting.

My personal favorites:
Vercetti-Kefka (for the insanity)
StarCraft-Wind Waker (for the insanity)
Crono-Mario II (for the insanity)

<_<
---
NEED A NEW SIG

mine:

1 - CT/LTTP (for the neverending deadlock, which was just awesome to watch)
2 - FFT/MGS (the end was intense)
3 - M/C II (obvious)
4 - Frog/MC (uh huh)
5 - Kefka/TV (yep)
---
xyzzy

I wasn't a big fan of Kefka/Vercetti as an all-time great. Perhaps that's because I absolutely couldn't care less about either of them, but I don't think that's entirely it. It was extremely anticlimactic, too.
---
"A huge void in her heart. It is filled not by darkness, but kindness from others." - Presea Combatir, the Empty Soul

Nice, tag.
---
Nominate Fox McCloud for 2006! And support Yoshi!
You have no chance to survive make your time.

yeah, I can agree on TV/Kefka. I was asleep for the climax of it and woke up five minutes after CjayC appeared. still, the craziness makes it rank up there.
---
xyzzy

Tag.

*hopes to see Master Hand/Kuja make this list*
---
"panties and underage girls go hand in hand though.... adults and panties....not so much" - Omega333

I was there for all of the insanity, and it was one of the most entertaining nights of B8's history. It wasn't so much about the match as about all of the craziness surrounding it.
---
NEED A NEW SIG

*tag*
My favorites:
Alucard/ tails 2002
Strider Hiryu/ Raziel 2002
Ganondorf/ Tidus 2003 (so much chaos)
Knuckles/ Yuna 2003 (I still laugh at the people saying Yuna would win)
Starcraft/ Wind Waker
Street Fighter II/ Super Mario RPG (SFII LOST?!)
...
...
And although I hated the result, I would have to say that Kuja/ Master Hand was a great match. Completely took me by surprise, I thought Kuja would win in a landslide. Really messed up my bracket.
---
"Dimidium facti qui coepit habet: sapere aude
He who has begun is half done: dare to know!"- Horace

tag
---
I'm a girl, address me as such. Just don't undress me as much. \m/^_^\m/

I was afraid of Kuja/Master Hand the entire time. No matter how much I felt that Kuja SHOULD take that match easily, I never felt comfortable with it.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

yeah, I wasn't convinced on Kuja/MH either. the only solace I can take out of that mess is that I picked Sin over Kuja, which the x-stats do predict.

---
xyzzy

tag
---
The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. But not in that order.
-- Brian Pickrell

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

That entire four pack still utterly perplexes me. I have no idea how Robotnik didn't dominate that four pack, how Sin actually managed to get that close in the first place, and how it was so comfortably ahead of both Master Hand and Kuja.

It makes no sense.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

yeah, I used to wonder the same; then I realized that all four simply sucked ass. looking at it that way, any result makes sense.
---
xyzzy

Tag
---
"I named my wang the Rancor. Why? Because everytime I pull it out a fat man in a head dress weeps at the beauty." - GTA Gavin

Well, Robotnik sucking that badly was kind of odd. I figured he'd be fodder, but not "lose to CATS" fodder.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

I personally don't think that Robotnik would lose to CATS... I think his support just collapsed against someone that people actually care about (Ganondorf). I don't know, but I just can't see Kuja losing to Immodium Ghaleon... Although it won't happen, I'd like to see that 4-pack in action again.
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

CATS is only ranked higher than Buttnik because Ganon suffered 2% against Ansem due to the LTTP Pig sprite.

IMO.

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
Currently Playing: Dragon Warrior, Deus Ex, Goldeneye, Shadow of the Colossus

Dk Vs. Aya was the first awesome match.
---
'Once in a hundred, the power of Christ is weakened by man filled with evil in their hearts, praying for the ressurection of Dracula, the prince of darkness.

I've wondered for months whether Sin could do any better vs. Ganon than Robotnik did. I say yes.
---
xyzzy

Due to the tendency of Nintendo/Square matches, he might even do BETTER than Robotnik due to some characters overachieving in such matches.
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

I'm hoping to see Vercetti > Kefka in the top five. Now that was a match where the better character won for once.

---
I'll be strong under the Kamiya Kasshin school...I'll wield my sword for the weak and those who suffer that I see all around me. - Yahiko

yeah, that's what I meant. I don't think Sin gets tripled.
---
xyzzy

tag
---
Everyone has a right to sarcasm. It's like murder, except legal. - MYC

I hope to see CATS vs Ansem somewhere on this list. Although most of the match was boring, the first five hours were my favorite five hours on GameFAQs ever.

My personal top 5 matches:
1. SC vs WW (Best comeback ever.)
2. CT vs LttP (Clash of the Titans - almost 24 hours of deadlock between two amazing games.)
3. Mario vs Crono II (Despite how unfair the outcome was, it deserves its place in history.)
4. SC vs Halo (Great comeback, and the only time a 16 seed beat a 1 seed.)
5. Frog vs Master Chief (The Comeback, The Choke, and the completely insane finish.)
---
Voltch kicked my ass in the guru contest!
Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

20. Final Fantasy Tactics Vs. Metal Gear Solid (Sp2004)

Final Fantasy Tactics 49.98% 40292
Metal Gear Solid 50.02% 40330
TOTAL VOTES 80622
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/spc2k4/spr04b42.jpg

Slow and steady wins the race. Or in this case, slow and steady makes for a damn good match. Although this was a pretty well hyped match coming into the contest the general consensus was that Metal Gear Solid would win a close although comfortable match. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Ulti even called the match in Metal Gear Solid's favor.

Anyway, when the match started it was a lot closer than most people thought. Although Metal Gear Solid was struggling to get near 52, through most of the morning, its lead was steady and it seemed mostly in control.

However, once the morning vote ended and the day vote began, Final Fantasy Tactics began chipping away at the lead. Not by a lot. Just by a few votes each update. Little by little, FFT kept cutting the lead and both sides waited with bated breath.

10 and a half hours later, Final Fantasy Tactics pulled it off and came back to briefly dance around with Metal Gear Solid for the lead. This lasted for around 20 minutes and then Metal Gear Solid starting building up a lead yet again. For an hour and a half Metal Gear Solid got a second wind, and built up a hundred vote lead. Then it all came tumbling down yet again. Final Fantasy Tactics started another comeback and managed to build a little lead of its own. Back and forth, back and forth, the match went for the last two hours of the match. When all was said and done Metal Gear Solid ended up winning by a scant 38 votes, making this the closest match in the Game Contest.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

I hope to see CATS vs Ansem somewhere on this list. Although most of the match was boring, the first five hours were my favorite five hours on GameFAQs ever.


I can agree somewhat with this - the board was going nuts all throughout the night. I completely forgot about that.
---
xyzzy

I never got to see CATS in the lead. I believe I woke up to Ansem with a lead of 100 or so.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

oh, and I think FFT/MGS deserves better than #20. hell of a match.
---
xyzzy

*awaits Kefka vs Tommy Vercetti*
---
"The mailman once gave me a package. I opened the package and screamed. There was a small child inside. I am the mailman."

well, the crazy thing about Ansem/CATS was when Ansem was cutting away at the lead, cutting away at the lead, cutting away, got exactly to 50/50.. and then CATS went on a tear. that moment was absolutely incredible - looking back on it, it was kind of like Kefka/TV, but at the time we had no idea since everyone wanted CATS to win. I wish I had a screenshot of the board when that happened.
---
xyzzy

That was the finest moment of my army. I was up every second CATS was in the lead.

It was a good night to say the least.
---
Married to PepsiPlunge June 01, 2005: HERO'S PLUNGE!
3 hours, 10 minutes, 3 seconds and 501 posts later, FFD and Pepsi summoned Ring of Honor.

I think I managed to see the very end of CATS's brief lead over Ansem. I do remember the result making me laugh out loud.

While writing about this last match, it does sound more exciting than it's place puts it, but in all honesty I think this match was on a school night, so I wasn't able to see all of the action. I did see enough to know it was an awesome match however.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

hoping for one of the samus/sonic matches in the top 10...
---
You can have your opinion...
...It's wrong, but you can have it

Samus beating Sonic not only once but twice makes me quite sad, but it probably deserves to be on the list.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

yeah, that belongs up there for sure, whether you like it or not. the 2k2 match shocked the hell out of me, because Samus hadn't had any games in eight years. (SSB notwithstanding)
---
xyzzy

I woke up to see the very end of the CATS lead (it was my first day at work, that morning), and I was estatic. Heh...man, that was just incredible; great way to start a morning.
---
Serious Reminder: Nominate Jay Solano in 2k6.
Why? Sean Paul made a song about Jay, though nobody understands a damn word of it.

That was the first match I stayed up all night waiting for the final results...
---
You can have your opinion...
...It's wrong, but you can have it

Ansem/CATS is officially my most underrated match. that thing never gets mentioned, but that was absolutely hilarious.
---
xyzzy

I don't know that I ever caught the very end of a great match. I usually ended up having to go to bed.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

what kind of [stat dork] are you?!?
---
xyzzy

A [stat dork] who lives on the east coast with school the next day.

Actually, I got to stay up for the entire first round, but Vercetti/Kefka had to happen on a Saturday, so I couldn't stay up until the end. The same thing happened with StarCraft/Wind Waker.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

Actually, I recall that I had intended to stay up to see the end of Mario/Crono II in 2003 since matches started at 1 A.M. then, but when I saw Crono extend his lead out to nearly 1000, I figured I wouldn't be worth it.

Then I woke up before school the next day to vote on Sephiroth/Alucard, and I recall making a loud exclamation upon looking at the bracket.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

In retrospect, Ganondorf and Magus is the only match I stayed up late to watch. And even then, I didn't continuously stay up. I just logged on at the very end to check the score.

I did stay up to catch the beginning of Mario Vs. Crono II though. I would have stayed up for the end, but at didn't seem like it'd be worth it when I logged off that night.

And now there is no way I'm staying up until 4 weekend or not just to see a match start.

I did randomly wake up at like 5:30 on Dante Vs. Terra and checked the results for the hell of it.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

ooh, that musta sucked. M/C II was my first day on the board, where I just popped in to read others's reactions.

Heroic Mario's surrender sticks out in my mind.

---
xyzzy

I remember that, too. That was right before I went to bed, actually.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

http://www.thengamer.com/gamefaqs/03Summer/MarioWins.jpg
http://www.thengamer.com/gamefaqs/03Summer/MarioWinsBoard.jpg

memories right there.
---
xyzzy

"Heroic Mario just laid his seed in his pants."

Best topic title ever.

And Lucid Faia is a liar, apparently.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

yeah, and MWIS left GameFAQs for time #3 out of 12 or something.
---
xyzzy

I'm still laughing at Sine's lack of capitalization.

I wish I was on Board 8 for all the older contests. Curse me and my casual visiting of GameFAQs

*curses*


TuRtLe
~~~
voltch has made me his official whipping boy for my disgraceful Guru performance. SC2k5- 164 points

I'm glad you remembered Mega Man/Ms. Pac-Man, Yesmar.
I think Cloud/Link should've been higher (the biggest upset of all time, ignoring warning signs), but otherwise it's good so far.

---
"Ah, a party! We haven't had one of those. It could be fun! So...what is a party?"
"Well, you drink punch and eat CAKE! ...I think."

19. Kuja Vs. Master Hand (Sp2005)

Kuja 46.24% 34009
Master Hand 53.76% 39535
TOTAL VOTES 73544
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/spc2k5/b16.jpg

Aside from being one of the funniest upsets in GameFAQS history, this was an excellent match as well. People always talk about the biggest comebacks or the biggest successful comebacks, but people never talk about the biggest vote shifts, which leads to people ignoring this awesome match.

Although Kuja was the board favorite for this match, from the beginning he was in trouble. Although the board vote and early morning vote had given him the lead, he was only ahead by 400 some votes, and everyone thought that Master Hand would get the day vote. And oh, did he get it.

Master Hand only had 400 votes to come back, so in the history books that is what his record will say. However, merely stopping there would be doing Master Hand a great disservice. From the moment the morning vote rolled in, until after the sun set, Master Hand increased his percentage up to 53.98% at its peak, far more than most people expected he could get. From the moment he started the comeback, he just took off on a tear that nothing would stop for many many hours.

To put this match in perspective the largest comebacks are in the 3,000s. Master Hand's total vote swing*?

5,800 votes. Especially impressive was Master Hand's total PWNing of the after-school vote in a performance as good as Master Chief. An underrated classic, and one whose vote swing deserves a spot in the record books.




*I figured out this number by taking Kuja's maximum vote lead before MH's comeback, and added it to MH's lead once his percentage stabilized.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

tag
---
Peach Mountain Shoguns
Come visit the Pub Trivia board.

many of us stat people want to see MH again against a CT character to see if a pitiful hand can win an update or two against a much stronger character thanks to that sick day vote..

---
xyzzy

This Ass God, or TAG.
(>^^)>(>^^)>(>^^)>
http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gentopic.php?board=924833
Come to YOSHI'S ISLAND! A nice RPG place to relax and make a living!

Kuja Vs. Master Hand still disgusts me to this day.
---
Rogue leader, standing by.

Are you kidding me? If anything, it just proved how much FFIX characters phail at life, and for that, I respect it.


TuRtLe
~~~
voltch has made me his official whipping boy for my disgraceful Guru performance. SC2k5- 164 points

bumpification
---
Pyre GIR (9:26:57 PM): You lack a basic grasp of human nature that can only be learned through living
IamSoCool84321 (9:28:07 PM): ur dumb

Top 3 should be:

1) Sonic vs Samus (2002)
2) Magus vs Knuckles (2005)
3) Duck Hunt vs Donkey Kong (Spring Contest)


..Okay, so that last one is just among my personal favorites. But Sonic v. Samus '02 better be somewhere far, far up there. It had everything. Including a 2-3 hour extension which is where Samus not only caught up, but won. Flawless. In being controversial at least.

---
Treeplane: "SOMEONE GET THIS PIRATE OFF ME! I HAVE TO GO LOVE MARIO! I NEED IT!" - PoG's Board 8 fic.

tag, liquid vs frog is my personal fav, well apart from the outcome :(
---
I'm stupid and contagious

Interesting so far, I'll try to look in on this.
---
Sir Chris, Chief of Police @ Board 8
Tampa Bay Bucs: 8-4; Next game: @ Panthers

Bump, I don't have time tonight to write a new one.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

18. Gordon Freeman Vs. Tina Armstrong (2002)

Gordon Freeman 40.03% 22560
Tina Armstrong 59.97% 33801
TOTAL VOTES 56361
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k2/sum02b14.jpg

Here it is. The epitome of GFNW. Only two characters have been in every Summer Contest and yet failed to win a single match. One of them is CATS, an obvious joke character. When Ceej first made the 2002 bracket he probably though that CATS would be the contest's main joke contestant. Although it would take a year before it really caught on, Gordon Freeman would take that crown.

There are so many things about this match that are so pathetic. For one, Gordon Freeman was a 3 seed. This and Ocelot's loss to Pac-Man are the biggest seeding upsets in the history of the Summer Contest. Now in some cases of seeding upsets, the lower seeded game was a powerhouse in disguise and the loss is respectable. Not this case. Tina Armstrong was by all rights a 14 seed, and Gordon still lost to her.

In doing this, Gordon Freeman started another contest trend. The curse of the 3 seeds. Despite the fact that they statistically should, in 3 out of the 4 Summer Contests on GameFAQS, only 1 3 seed or 3 seed equivalent made the Sweet Sixteen.

To get back to the match itself, even CJayC the creator of the contest thought Gordon would lose despite the fact he seeded the damn thing. Also, look at how much Gordon gained between 2002 and 2003. I doubt all of that is from Half-Life 2 hype and the fact Gordon was the Ultimate Loser* for 2002. Probably some of it was due to Tina's picture, making Gordon the only character to ever get TJF'd.

Lastly, when someone went to a Half-Life forum during the match to campaign votes for Gordon they were met with the response, "Who's Gordon Freeman?" His game's own fans don't even know who he is!

Well, despite all of his pathetic achievements, Gordon has one to be proud of. Despite never winning a match, he has still managed to get over 40% in every single one of his losing efforts, even when he logically and statistically shouldn't. However, in a corollary to that, this remains his largest defeat ever, as if the match was not pathetic enough on its own.


*Yet another notch on this match's pathetic belt.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

eh, I don't agree. it wasn't really until later matches that GF because GFNW. at the time, it was just "...oh, okay."

could just be me though. I wasn't on the board in 2k2.
---
xyzzy

Good one. Losing to Tina Armstrong is the epitome of GFNW.
---
Congratulations to ForteSp X EXE2 and Y2k deft colin for winning my DDR EX 2 guess the songlist contest!

I think that is the epitome of GFNW because by all rights and purposes Gordon should of blown Tina out. I mean he did better on LEON S. KENNEDY than he did on Tina Armstrong. HL2 or not that's just pathetic.

tag
---
This sentence has five words. This sentence has eight words.
Exactly one sentence in this signature is true.

He did better against any of his other opponents than he did against Tina, and strangely enough, she's probably the weakest one. GFNW works in mysterious ways.
---
"My thoughts, they kept floating up, and then slipping through my fingers. Slipping away before I could pin them down with words." - Tidus

17. Magus Zeal Vs. Knuckles the Echidna (2005)

Magus 49.14% 50153
Knuckles the Echidna 50.86% 51909
TOTAL VOTES 102062
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k5/b23.jpg

0. That is how many Oracle, Guru, and BOP brackets combined predicted Knuckles to win this match. Although lots of people talked about whether or not Magus could beat Squall and/or Vincent, no one was talking about if he was beating Knuckles. The X-Stats projected him winning with 60-63%. Even people who doubted the X-Stats couldn't deny his 35% performance on Link back in 2003.

From the beginning of the match, Magus was in trouble. His night vote was only able to bring him around 52.5% by the time the morning/day vote came in. Now, as it just so happens, Sonic characters, particularly Knuckles, rock with the day vote, and Chrono Trigger characters, especially Magus, suck with the day vote. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened next.

Knuckles pulled off a vote shift of 3000 votes, gaining close to a total percentage of 52% with the day vote. At some points during the day he was actually getting close to 54% of the votes. Although Magus was able to pull off a very impressive comeback with the night vote, it wasn't nearly enough to win, only barely bringing Knuckles under 51%, and helping Knuckles keep intact his reputation of never losing in the first round and being one of the only characters to face three Square characters and survive.

What the hell happened? Well, I can't exactly explain it myself. For one, you have to assume Magus got a 10% increase in percentage on Link merely because he got a *sprite* picture. Although that's understandable given Frog's overperformance against Snake, his other matches don't match up? Sure you can use Mega Man Vs. Tidus, and Sam Fisher Vs. Samus to say Magus was only this weak, but what about Sam's 2005 ranking? Or how about, how was Magus, who was essentially equal with a character (Ganondorf) who got over 40% against Sephiroth, losing to *Knuckles,* albeit an improved Knuckles. No matter how you cut it, this match doesn't make any sense, and really shows how misleading these contests can be sometimes.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

Sure you can use Mega Man Vs. Tidus, and Sam Fisher Vs. Samus to say Magus was only this weak, but what about Sam's 2005 ranking?

I blame Gordon Freeman.
---
"My thoughts, they kept floating up, and then slipping through my fingers. Slipping away before I could pin them down with words." - Tidus

Magus's fall has nothing to do with x-stats. CT lost a lot of the casual voters. Frog came from putting a fight with Snake, to getting destroyed by Samus (70%). Crono came from pulling a big win over Mario, to falling by a greater margin to him the next year. Nothing can really help CT now. I expect to see CT's popularity fall as time goes on.
---
Board 8's Top 100 TV Shows project
http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=8&topic=24358932

Mapes, you're not helping by being wrong across the board.
---
Q: Why was Chris Benoit kicked out of the gas station?
A: Because he was carrying matches.

Tag Body Spray.

*moan*
---
Nemesis from Resident Evil who just happens to live in Hyrule Castle - The Doppleganger, on what I remind him of

Kefka vs. TV should be in here...
---
.....________________
.....|....O......__....O....| "Tee-hee!"

tag
---
[=[_] =] Nintendo DS
[+[_]·:·] See double while sober!

For the biggest board upset of all time (in terms of being caught off-guard), I think Magus/Knuckles should've gotten a better ranking than that. Cloud/Link is the biggest upset ever, of course.

---
"Ah, a party! We haven't had one of those. It could be fun! So...what is a party?"
"Well, you drink punch and eat CAKE! ...I think."

I remember having a huge smile on my face when I logged on to my computer to see Knuckles beating Magus the next morning. Pure, unadulterated bliss.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

Man, Knuckles beating Magus was the greatest day ever. Hilarious.
---
You know, fingerprints are just like snowflakes. They're both very pretty. - Police Chief Wiggum

19. Kuja Vs. Master Hand
17. Magus Zeal Vs. Knuckles the Echidna

Excellent; I was afraid both of those travesties would be higher >_>
---
I know you love me... I wanna wad you up into my life...

This is seriously the most arbirtary order ever. =\
---
We have here a lot of candle holding, with Julius holding the largest candle. ~The Man FKA Heroic Mario

Knuckles beating Magus was my favorite contest match. Ansem/CATS and Bowser/Ryu are up there, too.
--
Supporting Jay Solano, Fox McCloud, Red XIII, Raiden, Soma Cruz and Ecco the Dolphin.
wark

Kirby/Tidus is one of my favorites, as I absolutely love seeing Final Fantasy characters being destroyed by a pink ball. And it happened twice!
---
Leo: Well, what do you think of the decal? It's a p-
Aeris: I KNOW.

Man, Kirby has faced my three favorite Final Fantasy characters in the last three years. My favorite characters face off often. I'm intrigued to see how the chips fall into place next year.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

And Lucid Faia is a liar, apparently.

Heh. How's that?

---
2nd Place, Spring Contest 2005
Elite Gamer (see quote).

One of the topics listed on those pictures he posted had a topic made by you. Check it out.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

Congratulations. You have actually made me grimace at the thought of how stupid I must have looked doing that.

Actually, I did suicide. At the time, LF was my alt, and a different account was my main. Then I realized how idiotic what I just did was. Oh well. >_>;

---
2nd Place, Spring Contest 2005
Elite Gamer (see quote).

Oh really? I didn't know that.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

Come on! Update!!!
---
[=[_] =] Nintendo DS
[+[_]·:·] See double while sober!

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

16. Ryu Hayabusa Vs. Jill Valentine (2004)

Ryu Hayabusa 50.02% 35220
Jill Valentine 49.98% 35193
TOTAL VOTES 70413
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k4/sum04b30.jpg
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k4/sum04b30oops.jpg
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k4/sum04b30oops.png

The match so nice they held it twice. Ryu Vs. Jill was a hyped match from the beginning of the contest. Ryu was a newcomer with any possible range of popularity, and Jill was a contest veteran whose star was falling. It seemed like a perfect set up for a close match, but unforeseen circumstances would make it even better.

Jill managed to get the first night vote and was clinging to a small lead by the time the morning set in. However, there was a problem. Due to a glitch in the poll, there was a random chance GameFAQS viewers would get the previous Poll of the Day (Sora Vs. HK-47) instead of the match of the day. Through all of the glitch drama, Jill managed to maintain her lead until noontime.

Then the gigantic X-Box afternoon vote came in. Ryu managed to destroy Jill's small lead and start building one of his own. However, around 5:00 PM EST the poll was closed, and the hilarious pictures posted above were shown in its place. Due to the glitch, the poll was temporarily halted and would start again the next day.

Although annoyed at the error, many people were intrigued at the chance to see a match be repeated, and the next day their wishes were granted. The first part was pretty much the same. Jill got the early lead and stuck to it. However, Ryu's comeback was dreadfully slower. It seemed as if he plodded along all afternoon. Everyone knew he had it in him to come back, and it seemed as if the comeback took forever.

But the comeback happened, and Ryu went into the night vote with a 300 vote lead at his peak. Ryu kept gaining into the night and most people went to bed, thinking the match was essentially over.

However, just an hour and a half before the match was to end, anyone staying up was met with a big surprise. With only ninety minutes to go, Jill was determined to win this thing, no matter how many days it took. She started one of the fastest tears these contests have ever seen and had managed to nearly gain back Ryu's 300 vote lead. However, she was just minutes late. Had the poll ended just five or ten minutes later Jill would have won, but as it stood at just 27 votes, Ryu Vs. Jill stood as the closest match of all time, at least for a couple of days.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

Meh, I thought Hayabusa/Jill was the most boring close match ever.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

Tagging to read later. Good writeups, Yesmar.

Hayabusa vs Valentine = My favorite, and Jill only need an extra minute.
---
"I named my wang the Rancor. Why? Because everytime I pull it out a fat man in a head dress weeps at the beauty." - GTA Gavin

I agree with Leonheart. I can see why you put it on the list, but for me the fact that it lasted two days and the low turnout made it boring as hell. I guess I might have liked it more if I cared about either character.
---
Voltch kicked my ass in the guru contest!
Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

The best part of the match was the "technical difficulties" picture with CATS as the culprit...i was glad that CATS finally got some respect, joke character or not.

---
"Always you have to contend with the stupidity of men." -- Henry David Thoreau
Proud Owner of The Coffee House

Hmmm...Maybe that's where CATS's strength boost came from...
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

15. Donkey Kong Vs. Tommy Vercetti (2003)

Donkey Kong 49.52% 50457
Tommy Vercetti 50.48% 51425
TOTAL VOTES 101882
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k3/thumb_sum03b47.jpg

After I made up this list, I realized that this match was probably a little too high, but in my defense, to me it is the perfect archetype of what a good match should be.

For one, the odds on favorite was Vercetti. However, Vercetti was also pretty hated by the board, so whatever the result was, Board 8 won. Secondly, Donkey Kong had been the victim of mysterious SFFy circumstances in his loss to Mario last year, leaving his true value up for grabs. Vercetti was also an enigma, being a contest newbie. In short, other than assumptions there really was no good reading on who the winner would be and there was much debate over this match.

Vercetti took the early lead and was able to hold onto it until morning. The morning vote favored Donkey Kong and Good Match Sign #1 started: The Comeback. Donkey Kong cut down Verceti's lead all morning and into the afternoon.

By the middle of the afternoon, Donkey Kong had the lead and Good Match Sign #2 started: The Duel. This was the first time in contest history that two characters fought over the lead for more than half an hour. Usually, the character coming back wrestled for the lead for fifteen minutes and kept on chugging. Not in this case. Donkey Kong and Tommy Vercetti went back and forth swapping leads for several hours and I think Donkey Kong might have built up a little lead of his own at one point. However, this didn't last. Vercetti got a push with the evening vote and it was enough to give him a comfortable (comparatively) 1000 vote lead.

Was this match as exciting as some others? Not really, but most good matches on this list fall into some spot of the template set by this match.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

It's true, the technical difficulties picture with CATS was great.
---
Voltch kicked my ass in the guru contest!
Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

14. Mario Mario Vs. Crono (2002)

Mario 50.05% 53831
Crono 49.95% 53716
TOTAL VOTES 107547
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k2/sum02b61.jpg

Out of all four Summer Contests, there have been numerous rematches, but only one match has been held in every single contest, and that is Mario Vs. Crono. In the second and third contests the rematches were blatantly set up, but in their first and last encounters, it all came down to fate, especially the first time.

To put this match in context, you have to understand the paths of the two characters in it. Mario's will be talked about later in this countdown, but Crono's was legendary for its time. Crono had been predicted to have a close match with Dante back in Round 2 and there were people calling for his defeat in every round from 2 on. After he doubled Dante and broke 70% on Lara he went on to face Snake in the Elite 8 and went to beat him as well, making his way to the Final 4 and setting up a Cinderella story that would not soon be forgotten. However, for this Cinderella the clock was nearing midnight and he would only have one dance left.

I'm not sure who took the early lead in the match (probably Crono), but regardless, by the time the morning came around, Mario took the early morning vote by storm and pressed on, increasing his lead by a sizable amount throughout the day and it seemed as if his contest run had finally ended.

However, around evening time Crono started to come back. He cut down the lead Mario had worked hard to build, and as Chrono Trigger and its characters are wont to do, stormed through the night vote and started reaching towards the lead. There was one point where there was a *very* large vote jump by Crono, and while some people cried "Cheater," people were so overjoyed at Crono's victory that they didn't pay any mind to it. Besides, as far as many people were concerned, Mario had cheated his way to the Final 4 anyway.

Crono grew very close to the lead, and may have even taken it at one point, I don't quite remember, but at that moment one of the most controversial events in Contest History occurred. CJayC announced that a Crono fan had vote stuffed for Crono and removed three hundred votes, enough to give the lead back to Mario. The board exploded at what most saw as unfair meddling on the part of Ceej. However, the general consensus now is that the cheating was blatantly obvious and Ceej just happened to expose it at a very unlucky time for himself. In fact, Ceej later implied that Crono got as much as 3000 votes due to the cheater, only 1/10 of which were actually taken away.

In the late hours of the poll, Crono did make one final push for the lead, but Mario pushed back and managed to end up winning in the end, albeit barely. His extremely controversial win led to cries of Mario cheating his way to victory, cries that would not be silenced for three years.

This match also set up one of the longest running feuds in contest history, a feud which continues to this day.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

bump
---
[=[_] =] Nintendo DS
[+[_]·:·] See double while sober!

great read so far
---
Somehow i knew in hell there would be mushrooms - Guybrush Threepwood

13. Chrono Trigger Vs. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Sp2004)

Chrono Trigger 50.18% 49494
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 49.82% 49132
TOTAL VOTES 98626
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/spc2k4/spr04b58.jpg

Although, I believe that any close match is a good match, the one thing that can make any close match better if if it occurs between two contest juggernauts, which is exactly the case that happened in this match. Chrono Trigger and LTTP ended up being ranked 3rd and 4th, respectively, when all was said and done. Going into the match no one had any idea how popular either game was. LTTP had had trouble with FFVI, which was either good or bad, depending who you talked to, and Chrono Trigger hadn't made many waves either.

Much as it had during its match with FFVI, LTTP started off letting Chrono Trigger run away with the first night vote. Chrono Trigger worked through the night to build up a lead, but LTTP ran away with the first morning vote with enough of a vengeance to claim the lead for itself. However, Chrono Trigger wasn't about to give up and halted Link to the Past right when it gained the lead.

And then everything stopped. The two games went back and forth for the rest of the day, each one trying to get some semblance of a lead, but neither one getting the push they needed. Every time you would refresh the poll, a different game would have the lead. Both sides waited, seeing if some game could get the lead before the night vote rolled in. Neither game did, and this was the first time in contest history a poll would stand wire to wire for the whole day. The poll was tied for at least 10 hours.

Eventually, the night vote rolled in and Chrono Trigger was able to use it to gain a 300 vote lead. Not much, but compared to how the match had been going during the day, it was a blowout. Although, I think LTTP tried making some kind of push later in the night, it didn't make much difference, and Chrono Trigger went out as the winner of the 16-Bit Division.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

Don't expect an update tonight. I'll be watching Survivor.

Oh, and someone should tell creativename that his Match update for this match at sc2k5.com doesn't work.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

Man, that match was insane. Creative's poll updater probably doesn't work because it got overloaded, heh.

Chrono Trigger hadn't made many waves either.

I dunno. It beat Mario RPG and Mario World by more than a lot of people expected, I think.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

CT/LTTP is #1 in my book. the way that thing just stopped for hours was absolutely awesome to watch. some people have said it was boring because of that, but I could not disagree more. best match ever.
---
xyzzy

I think the only thing that keeps CT/LttP from being the best ever is that it didn't have a fantastic finish. You knew that this match was over when CT built up a 400 vote lead during the night.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

well, I watched it throughout the entire daytime, which is where the "omg awesome" feeling comes from. also, Yesmar's first sentence is dead on - Frog/MC might have had an awesome finish, but neither of them are powerhouses. CT/LTTP are #3 and #4.
---
xyzzy

Yeah, I got to watch all of the mayhem, too. That was definitely great. I was bummed out when CT kinda pulled away at the end though.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

I pretty much stopped watching the Spring Contest after brackets locked because I was kicking myself for making the horrible mistake of trusting Super Metroid and Metroid Prime to take down LttP and Wind Waker, even though both of those Zelda games are in my top 5 games.

Although I kept telling myself I was wrong, I wanted to believe that only OoT would get full Zelda fan support. I figured since WW was "hated", that people would go for MP. As for Super Metroid, I figured that it would be the strongest Metroid game, and thus the game that its fans rallied for. As soon as brackets closed, I knew I was wrong and couldn't bear to watch the whole contest. Especially after seeing both Zelda games kick ass.
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

I picked FF6 to win the division thinking the FF name would carry it to close wins over CT and LTTP, so once LTTP beat FF6 I thought it'd take CT. for hour after hour, I was convinced CT was going to crumble and it just never did. that feeling that CT wasn't going to break was the reason I liked the match so much.
---
xyzzy

The big reason FF6 was largely scoffed at by the board was how pathetic Kefka turned out to be in his first contest outing. In that regard, many were actually impressed that FF6 could hang with LttP like that.
---
Q: Why was Chris Benoit kicked out of the gas station?
A: Because he was carrying matches.

I was one match away from a perfect 16-bit. I'm still puzzled about some of the decisions I made on my bracket, and Sonic 2 > SMW is no exception. Quite frankly, I was surprised that LttP didn't own FFVI. Those first few hours of that match were awesome.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

The thing that hurt was that I didn't get any matches wrong after SC/WW, so those Metroid picks were especially painful. FFVI? I knew that CT would be #1 in the division, so I figured that Nintendo would have to have the #2. I just picked the wrong Nintendo game.

Of course my other 16-bit mistake WOULD be Earthbound of all things, the first and only time I will ever put faith in Earthbound. <_<
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

Heh, I knew Earthbound stood no chance against Doom. I mean, come on, it's Doom against Earthbound. Just the name is enough to give it a win over a game like Earthbound.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

CT/LttP was awesome - it belongs in the top 5 at the very least. I'd rank it #2 behind only SC/WW. It was just amazing how neither game would budge all day long. I was checking that match every 5-10 minutes for the entire day and it never felt boring to me - it was tense the whole time until the second night vote rolled around. Part of it was just that both games are awesome - I felt like the results were very appropriate for a struggle between those two games.
---
SC2k5 and SpC2k5 First Vote Champion
Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

What detracted from the match, for me, was that it was obvious CT would pull away during the night if LttP didn't make a move, which it never did.
---
Q: Why was Chris Benoit kicked out of the gas station?
A: Because he was carrying matches.

Close matches that are nothing but close don't excite me unless few expected the match to be close.

The more I say the word "close" the more weird the word sounds...

---
"Ah, a party! We haven't had one of those. It could be fun! So...what is a party?"
"Well, you drink punch and eat CAKE! ...I think."

bump
---
[=[_] =] Nintendo DS
[+[_]·:·] See double while sober!

tag
---
BIGGEST Crono/Chrono Trigger fan EVER!!!
Leader of the perished Crono Army

12. Starcraft Vs. Super Smash Brothers Melee (Sp2004)

Starcraft 49.73% 48548
Super Smash Bros. Melee 50.27% 49082
TOTAL VOTES 97630
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/spc2k4/spr04b60.jpg

Take a good look at the first game in this match, cause this won't be the last time you see it on this list. To explain this match you have to first explain what had just happened in the 128-Bit Division. There were a handful of games that had been considered favorites for the division. Starcraft was not one of them. It had pulled off the most impressive Cinderella run since Crono back in 2002, and had already had its share of surprising, controversial matches. There, I'll leave it at that for now. Although not as much of an underdog as Starcraft, Super Smash Brothers Melee had to go through a gauntlet of matches as well to get to this point. To put everything in perspective, Starcraft and SSBM's prediction percentages for the previous round were 7.91% and 14.18%respectively.

The match started out as most of the other matches for these two games went. Starcraft got the early morning lead, but once the sun rose and the true morning vote arrived, Super Smash Brothers Melee ran away with the lead.

Super Smash Brothers Melee gained more of a lead than Starcraft's other opponents had, but we had all seen what Starcraft was capable of, and everyone waited until the late afternoon/evening vote to see which was the poll would swing.

Sure enough, as evening hit Starcraft started to comeback. However, Starcraft's comeback started moving suspiciously fast, even for Starcraft. The **** officially hit the fan when Starcraft came back a total of 1000+ votes in a half hour. Although, everyone knew something fishy was going on, Starcraft had been so crazy thus far, everyone wondered if it was finally beginning to unleash its true power.

However, everyone's suspicions were confirmed when CJayC announced that a cheater had been caught and produced a graph (whose filename was kekeke) that showed the voting trends. The line representing Starcraft's vote increase over time was literally very close to being a vertical line.

CJayC never took the cheated votes away, opting to see how the match played out. Although Starcraft did attempt its traditional evening comeback, the momentum was gone, and Super Smash Brothers ended up becoming the 128-Bit Champion.

CJayC's statements only confirmed the accusations of people claiming that Starcraft had been cheating all along and his discovery of previously unknown proxy servers put the legitimacy of Starcraft's other wins in jeopardy.

Oh, and for kicks, the final prediction percentage in this match: 7.16%

P.S. creativename: This match update page doesn't work either.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

Heh, I knew Earthbound stood no chance against Doom. I mean, come on, it's Doom against Earthbound. Just the name is enough to give it a win over a game like Earthbound.

Board hype. From the way people on this board talk about Earthbound, you would think it was some type of godsend or something. I was like "maybe more people like Earthbound than I thought". And I'm not really into Doom, so I don't know much about it. I started getting confused between all the SNES/N64 era shooters anyways... Doom, Quake, Hexen, etc.
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

And I fail to realize why SSBM, as a 2-seed mind you, failed to get more than 7.16% of the brackets, especially with Halo as the one seed.
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

see: FF10.

I'm trying to find kekekeke.png, but it seems to have been taken off his website.

---
xyzzy

Okay, I'm tired of looking...
From: CJayC | Posted: 6/3/2004 11:57:23 PM | Message Detail
Total confirmed open proxy votes found for Starcraft: 637

There are likely more, but I've exhaused all of the public open proxy lists I know. All of the
votes came within a specific time frame, and 100% of them were for Starcraft (something that
can't really be passed off as a coincidence). They started off heavy, then slowed down (I
guess as the guy exhausted his lists).

There are likely more than the 637 I found, but I was only going by public lists (i.e. ones I
could find on Google). How I found them: Looked up a suspect vote IP address on Google with
the word "proxy" as well, and then taking the lists that popped up and adding them into my
known proxy list. I started with around 200 that I already knew about (I hadn't updated my
lists in a year and a half), then found the other 400+ through Google tonight.

Oh, and this is pretty telling:
http://www.cjayc.com/kekekeke.png

The plot points are votes per game per 1000 votes.

And now, for the frequently whined questions:

How do you know that these are all fradulent votes?

They're from known open proxy servers (most of them in countries like Malaysia, Turkey, China,
and so on), 100% of them are for Starcraft, and they all came in a huge rush (as if someone
started off a program to vote automatically).

How do you know that this didn't happen earlier in the contest?

I don't know, but I'm fairly sure, given that there wasn't a surge like this on any other
contest. Every other lead change has been gradual and taken hours to fully come about; a 1000
vote gain in an hour isn't normal.

You're just a Nintendo fanboy, aren't you?

How sad is it this? I mean, I've been accused of being for/against so many different companies
at this point, it's not even funny. Just a day ago, I was anti-Nintendo for not finding any
cheating going on in the LTTP battle...

For the record, I don't care who wins, as long as both sides play as fairly as the other. If
you'll recall what I said just a day or two ago, the only kind of "cheating" that I would
remove votes for was when one person attempted to seriously sway the contest vote all by
themselves, and low and behold, someone got desparate enough to try it. If you were online and
watching it when the swing happened, there can't really be any question that this wasn't
legitimate.

So, what are you going to do about this?

I'm not sure. Ask me in an hour. The options range from nothing (if SSBM holds out), to
removing all proxy server votes, removing all votes within the known "cheating" timeframe, or
even a complete re-run of today's battle from scratch, with new intensive security measures in
place to prevent this from happening again.

You're just making this up, aren't you?

Why in the hell would I open myself up to this much criticism without a valid reason? I mean,
seriously, tracking this crap down has been an amazing waste of my time that I could have
spent updating the site. Instead, we've got some guy attempting to ruin things for his own
personal benefit, and that's not right.

---
I'm drunk with power!
Wait, no, "Buttershots". I'm drunk with "Buttershots"!
-------------------------------------------------------
---
xyzzy

see: FF10.

Actually, I'd go with "see: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City."

Man, SSBM's prediction percentage was awful for that match.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

true, true. I am one of the guilty ones.

still, I bet FF10 had more predictions to round 4 than VC did.
---
xyzzy

But either way, I was shocked about how few people picked SSBM to win the division. I figured it wouldn't be the top game (Halo and FFX would be, I thought), but 7.14%?
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

Good pick. But you forgot to mention my favorite part about that match - when Starcraft first saw its huge vote surge, somebody started a rumor that the poll had been on Korean television. The idea was just believable enough to make a lot of people wonder whether the votes were coming from actual Koreans instead of cheaters.
---
SC2k5 and SpC2k5 First Vote Champion
Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

He. I like your picks. The CATS surprise pic of Jill and Ryu made me ROFL. XD
---
WASHINGTON HUSKY FOOTBALL PROGRAM = WORST RANKED TEEAM
the extra E is because they are rated E for Easy ~ElasTic RealiTy

11. Squall Leonhart Vs. Luigi Mario (2003)

Squall Leonhart 60.21% 69958
Luigi 39.79% 46232
TOTAL VOTES 116190
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k3/sum03b35.jpg

I know some bemoaned by low placement of Magus Vs. Knuckles before, and I did mention how much of an upset that was. However, in my mind at least, nothing compares to Squall Vs. Luigi when it comes to upsets.

Although no one though he would lose to Knuckles, there was a sizable "Magus is overrated" bandwagon and at least the match was close. Although nobody saw this match coming, the main shocker here was the percentage. Squall with over 60%?!!!!!! That was as much as Luigi was projected to get. Hell, most people were predicting Luigi to get more. For reference, the average Oracle score for this match was 5.30 points compared to 21.73 for Magus Vs. Knuckles. As far as I know, this is the only average Oracle score in the single digits, and the lowest score overall.

Now, for the match itself. Although Luigi was actually able to get a lead in the first half hour or so, it all went downhill from there. Squall took off with the lead and never looked back. If there were any comeback attempts, they were pretty much futile.

Now as for why this match was such a shock. Squall had appeared in 2002 and bowed out in the first round to Snake. He got 35% which was actually pretty respectable and in 2002's weak bracket put him in the Top 25. Regardless, when the 2003 bracket was released he was supposed to have a close match with Jill before bowing out to Luigi in the second round. Even when Squall got 59% on Jill, going widely against creativename's early X-Stats, the logic was that X-Stats just plain didn't work, and that match results were just widely volatile. None of the experts really expected him to have a shot against Luigi.

As for Luigi, himself, a snub in 2002, he had been given a 3 Seed in 2003 and was expected to be one of the most popular newcomers. People even pointed towards an old POTD where he scored even higher than Mario himself. The big debate at this point was whether or not he could beat *Samus.* Squall was just considered a blip on the radar.

Needless to say, I don't need to explain the chaos that ensued once people saw the poll results for this match. It is probably the only poll result that made me sit in my chair, mouth open, flabbergasted. Of course, it later turned out that we had grossly overrated Luigi (he was on par with Donkey Kong) and that Squall had just been a recipient of Kingdom Hearts Factor, although I don't think anyone realized it quite yet.

Back to back with Ganondorf Vs. Magus, the board was temporarily driven into a Fanta Shotaky chaos. Some people (like me) were not even sure on KOS-MOS Vs. Samus anymore. Although the board eventually died down, I still must dub this still stands as one of the biggest contest shockers of all time.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

Heh, tis awesome that Squall vs. Luigi's so high. To this day, that's in my top five.

I loved the fanta shokata chaos in that match... we don't get fads that perfectly work with the match of the day often enough.
---
I can't think of anything to put here, but I can't just leave it blank, can I?

Bump
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

25th? That was the BEST match. No result has ever been as fulfilling and deserved.
---
"Cloud... Words aren't the only thing that tells people what you're thinking..." - Tifa

good pick.

---
xyzzy

Pfft, the best Starcraft match was the SSBM one.

Everything else, inferior. >.>

---
Treeplane: "SOMEONE GET THIS PIRATE OFF ME! I HAVE TO GO LOVE MARIO! I NEED IT!" - PoG's Board 8 fic.

10. Aya Brea Vs. Donkey Kong (2002)

Aya Brea 48.94% 30478
Donkey Kong 51.06% 31798
TOTAL VOTES 62276
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k2/sum02b34.jpg

Well, this entry should be pretty short. Basically, by today's standards this match wasn't all that interesting. Aya was actually able to take the early lead and was leading for the first six or so hours of the poll. However, DK got both the morning vote and the day vote and was able to get enough of a lead to lead him to a close victory.

If the match was so boring, then why is it all the way at Number 10 on my list? Well, it just happens to have been the very first close match of all time in GameFAQS Contest history. We had seen matches like Jill Vs. Kirby and Strider Vs. Raziel where the winner got less than 55%, but we had never seen anybody dip this low and we had never even seen a lead change before. This was the first match where the person winning after the first hour did not end up winning the match. I even remember sitting at my computer refreshing every couple minutes during this match, the first time I'd ever been tempted to do that during a match.

Regardless, I still think it's honestly kinda weird that Aya came this close to beating DK. I mean, I know GameFAQS loves Square but seriously, Aya Brea? Does anyone even really know who she is? Maybe TJF really did exist in 2002.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

Nice write-ups, man. And, just for the record, I picked Squall on my bracket to win that match. ^.^

---
(Dreaming) Hey sexy mama, want to kill all humans? Bender - Futurama
RPGGamer0

Indeed, good job with this.

I remember back in R1 of SC2K2 people were claiming that comebacks were impossible, and that once a character had a lead he/she was sure to win. =P

---
"Ah, a party! We haven't had one of those. It could be fun! So...what is a party?"
"Well, you drink punch and eat CAKE! ...I think."

Regardless, I still think it's honestly kinda weird that Aya came this close to beating DK. I mean, I know GameFAQS loves Square but seriously, Aya Brea? Does anyone even really know who she is? Maybe TJF really did exist in 2002.

Die.

Seriously though, you must forget how popular Square was during the PS1 era. Parasite Eve is not even close to being obscure. It was one of the first big Square releases after Final Fantasy VII (along with Xenogears). They actually did some heavy advertising for the game. The commercial showed some of the best CG graphics we had ever seen.

Parasite Eve was popular enough to warrant a sequel, although they changed the formula to be a Resident Evil clone. But still, Parasite Eve II was released in the US in 2000, so it's not like people forgot about Aya Brea in a short 2 years. Had Square continued the Parasite Eve series, she still probably would be popular today.
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

Good job, keep going.
---
Nominate Fox McCloud for 2006! And support Yoshi!
You have no chance to survive make your time.

Keep in mind that assuming a constant DK between 2002 and 2003 these results put Aya on the level of Yuna.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

And what's wrong with that? Remember, this was in 2k2. Parasite Eve was still popular.
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

TJF applicable cases: Aya, Morrigan.

Morrigan because holy crap her boobs were bigger than the entire pic of Spyro.

Aya because she was in her bra and panties IIRC.

---
Treeplane: "SOMEONE GET THIS PIRATE OFF ME! I HAVE TO GO LOVE MARIO! I NEED IT!" - PoG's Board 8 fic.

Aya in 2002 is definitely a different story from Aya now. At the time I expected her to beat Donkey Kong. If she were in the contest today, I wouldn't expect her to do anything.

Hmm... 9 left. I'm pretty sure six of them will be Mario/Cloud, Mario/Crono 2k3, Sonic/Samus, SC/Halo, SC/WW, and Frog/MC. I have no idea what the other three will be. CATS/Ansem? Pac-Man/Ocelot? Link/Ganondorf =P?
---
SC2k5 and SpC2k5 First Vote Champion
Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

Aya because she was in her bra and panties IIRC.

Against DK? She was in her black dress from the beginning of the game, and you couldn't even see her chest since it was a close-up.

And as I've said many times before, the day of Squall/Luigi is still the most fun I've ever had on this board.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

9. Halo Vs. Starcraft (Sp2004)

Halo: Combat Evolved 49.83% 56258
Starcraft 50.17% 56631
TOTAL VOTES 112889
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/spc2k4/spr04b25.jpg

And Starcraft makes its second appearance on this list, in this, its very first match at GameFAQS. This was the most hyped match of the first round, but even then we had no idea of the monster we were unleashing.

To start things off, I should mention how odd it is that this match is one of the classics. Neither game is the type that would traditionally appeal to the normal GameFAQS viewer/voter. Halo is an Xbox shooter, which is an instant two points against it. In addition, Starcraft is a PC game, and as thus GameFAQS should be apathetic towards it. However, the apathy shown towards these two games actually proved to be an incentive towards a good match, since likeability wise they were evenly matched. It just goes to show that any two games/characters can lead to a good match, not matter what fanbase they appeal to.

Another big reason for this match's hype was the seedings. Under the Spring Contest's nomination system, any user was only allowed to nominate 1 game per every gaming system. This flawed system lead to Halo, who had to compete with very few games, gaining a 1 seed whereas Starcraft, who had to compete with a bajillion PC games across 20+ years, gaining a 16 seed. Although we had had plenty of seeding upsets before, we had never had the potential to see a 16 over 1 upset, and we'll probably never get the chance again. People were eagerly waiting to see if history could be made and if a 16 seed could win a match.

When the match started off, it initially appeared as if the upset was going to happen without much trouble. Starcraft jumped out to an early, sizable lead. 3 and a half hours into the match Starcraft had a 1000 vote 55% lead. Although this is normally nothing spectacular, to get this much this early in a projected nail biter is quite impressive. People knew Halo was going to come back during the day and Starcraft was going to lose support once the night faded, but would that be enough to allow Halo to make up a 1000 vote defecit?

Halo shot off as soon as the morning vote began. Halo tore into the lead cutting off votes every update all through the morning hours, and showing Starcraft which one of the two games was the daytime favorite. Halo took down Starcraft's lead by the time noontime came around. However, all was not loss for the 16 seed. For two hours the games went back and forth, both leads jumping all over the place. A game would get up to a 50 vote lead, then then the other would come back, take the lead and go up to 50 itself.

However, like the roller coaster ride this match was, Halo came back at noontime and started building up a lead of its own. The afternoon and afterschool votes only increased its pace and Halo starting running away with a 1000 vote lead of its own. Starcraft had a chance to come back with the night vote but the question was would it have enough time, and would we see yet *another* 1000 vote comeback in just one match?

The answer to that question was yes. With only five hours left to go in the match, Starcraft took off with its legendary night vote and set its sights on getting rid of that pesky 1000 vote lead. Much like Halo had done during the day, Starcraft tore away with the night vote and never looked back. Once Starcraft regained the lead 3 and a half hours later, it didn't even wait around to duel for the lead and instead rushed right ahead with building a little 400 vote lead of its own. Once all the chaos was over, Starcraft stood the winner and stands to this day as the only 16 Seeded entry in any contest to best a 1 Seed.




---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

There were rampant cries of cheating on both sides during the match, and although I'm sure that's part of the reason for the crazy vote swings, another reason would be the fact that this is what happens when you get a juggernaut of the day vote going up against a juggernaut of the night vote.

Regardless, this match only proved to be a forbearer of things to come. I remember Slowflake said at one point, "I wonder when Starcraft will go from being the Sweet Little Sixteen Seed That Could to an Unstoppable Monster That Must Be Killed at Any Cost." Little did he know how prophetic those words would become.
---
Jman_gamerX8 PWNed me in the Guru Contest. . . .Stupid Cloud.
On Default Team Name in Trivia XVI

Depends on your perspective I guess - I always thought of Starcraft as the awesome 16-seed that could. In my opinion, beating SSBM would have been the greatest day in GameFAQs history.
---
SC2k5 and SpC2k5 First Vote Champion
Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

Nah, seeing FFVII obliterate it without breaking a sweat would've been better.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

OK, this may be kind of 'out there', but why the hell was it called the 128-bit division? I missed that contest, so I couldn't complain about it then, but...PCs have, and as far as games are concerned still are, 32-bit systems. There are 64-bit processors, but no games programmed to run on them, yet.

Unless, of course, I'm completely clueless and they use Video Card memory interface numbers to classify systems, in which case PCs are currently 256-bit machines.
---
In fact, Jesus is planning on knighting me. -- chaoscell

well, "128" refers to the generation of Xbox/PS2/GC. if the PC game in question was released in 1991, it would have ended up in the 16-bit division. since SC is thought of as a modern game, it went to the most modern division.

---
xyzzy

Leon's comment is interesting, though - you just get the feeling that SC would go toe-to-toe with absolutely anyone. I just can't see SC getting under 40%.
---
xyzzy

I can, as long as StarCraft doesn't cheat. FFVII would do so with ease.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

bump
---
[=[_] =] Nintendo DS
[+[_]·:·] See double while sober!

Bump. I'll post a new one tonight.
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

Great writeups
---
This Party's Gettin' Crazy . . . Let's Rock!
Cisse is the black Andy Cole. - Sisko

I can, as long as StarCraft doesn't cheat. FFVII would do so with ease.

Vincent/Kerrigan anyone? I'm willing to bet many Starcraft fans are bigger FFVII fans.
---
*Is therealmnm*
Proud Supporter of Zero in SC2k5

The funny thing was that I actually predicted the "upset" that starcraft had. All the way up until SSBM beating it.

Of course, it was a favorites bracket so whatever >_>
---
Official Newb who is not of the AW2SB

8. Kefka Palazzo Vs. Tommy Vercetti (2005)

Kefka 48.86% 47920
Tommy Vercetti 51.14% 50165
TOTAL VOTES 98085
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k5/b19.jpg

Although this was one of the better Contests, there really weren't all that many "classic" matches that went over its two months. However, this match is one that will go down in history.

Despite Kefka's previously disappointing performances in the past two Summer Contest, there was a good amount of hype going into this match. Kefka was the higher seed, he wasn't getting the Lettuce Kefka picture, and CJ's surprising loss to Ness a couple matches ago gave hints of a GTA drop. However, despite all this, Vercetti was a heavy favorite to win the match, despite Kefka being a Board 8 favorite.

Although Kefka got off to an early lead, this didn't worry many people as he usually got a fair amount of the board vote. However, this time Kefka was getting a larger amount of support than normal and as he jumped to a 1000 vote lead it looked as if the GTA drop rumours were true.

However, Kefka was also never much good with the day vote and by mid morning, Vercetti had started to come back. For two hours he worked at chipping down the lead to 800 votes, but once he broke 800 votes, Kefka bounced back up, and set up the first of the many barriers seen throughout this match. Although Vercetti kept coming close, for the next hour and a half, Kefka prevented him from ever breaking 800 votes again.

Vercetti kept pushing at the barrier, and eventually broke it and started to come back again. For two more hours, Vercetti started coming back again, this time halving the lead down to four hundred votes. However, Kekfa was not to be halted that easy and set up another barrier, this time at the 400 vote mark.

This two hour Vercetti comeback, two hour Kefka barrier pattern persisted yet again. Vercetti was halted for two hours yet again, but like before he eventually broke through and started chipping at the very vulnerable lead. Although he was held up briefly at the 1-hour and 3-hour marks, those barriers would be weak in comparison to the two previous ones and in 4 hours, Vercetti came back to take the lead.

For an hour and a half, the two characters went back and forth, swapping the lead every five minutes. The two characters were so close that the only thing left was to see who would take the night vote, a vote both characters had legitimate claims to. Kefka started off with the early night vote, building up yet another lead for an hour and a half. However, once the night grew later Vercetti began to get the edge and started yet another comeback for the lead.

As Vercetti's comeback built up steam, this match got smacked with one the biggest controversies ever seen in these contests. CJayC had found evidence that somebody was mass vote stuffing for Kefka and for only the second time in contest history removed a character's votes. Removing over 1700 votes for Kefka, Vercetti now sat in a comfortable lead, a lead who would only increase as the match went on.

Although the match depended on a cheater to make it close, and it was anticlimatic, for twenty hours it was contest magic, and Kefka's barriers will go down as things of legend. This was also the match that had Ceej introduce a 5 minute updates to future contest polls.

One final note: A user called George Romero was eventually found out as the person behind the cheating. Upon conversation with several users, George Romero claimed to have been vote stuffing for characters ever since the first contest, putting the results of many close matches into question. Although the general consensus is that he was just lying to gain attention, the possibility does still live on.

---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

Stop calling him "Kefka Palazzo." That's not his name.

---
2nd Place, Spring Contest 2005
Elite Gamer (see quote).

Stop calling it Final Fantasy III. That's not it's name.
---
pi

Stop calling it Final Fantasy III. That's not it's name.

Who are you referring to? Because I call the game Final Fantasy 3/6j. I have been for... years now.

---
2nd Place, Spring Contest 2005
Elite Gamer (see quote).

only seven matches to go.
---
Nominate CATS,Jay Solano,Weedle and Ifnkovhgroghprm for sc2k6

tag
---
JOIN ALT.8 AND THE CLOWN WARS
http://alt8.proboards56.com/index.cgi

bump
---
[=[_] =] Nintendo DS
[+[_]·:·] See double while sober!

7. Starcraft Vs. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Sp2004)

Starcraft 50.1% 41480
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 49.9% 41309
TOTAL VOTES 82789
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/spc2k4/spr04b55.jpg

There are some matches that intially defy explanation. However, after we all sit down and analyze them they end up making sense. This is not one of those matches. Knowing what I know about the fanbase of GameFAQS and what games are popular and what games aren't, I still can not comprehend how Starcraft was able to win this match. Personally, I severly doubt it legitmately won the match at all, but that's a story for a different topic.

Regardless, the hype coming into this match was intense. Starcraft had upset both Halo and Kingdom Hearts, albeit the latter one was partly expected after Kingdom Heart's "lackluster" performance against Soul Calibur. Although there were tons of people talking about Starcraft's chances, most of them weren't entirely serious, and most people believed Starcraft's run was up. However, most people had no idea until after the match the elaborate system of promoting and spamming that had been set up on Starcraft fan sites around the net. All of the Starcraft Nation was prepared for this match, and we would for once finally see its true power.

After reading write ups of two previous Starcraft matches you can probably guess what happened first. Starcraft took the early morning vote and got itself the first lead. However, this initial lead paled in comparison to Starcraft's others, and once the morning vote hit, after some initial missteps, Wind Waker took off with the day vote, exploding like a bullet as the day went on.

However, while Wind Waker rocked with the morning vote it reached some trouble once the afternoon kicked in. Wind Waker had built up a 1500 vote lead, and while it was able to not drop, it was having a hell of a time increasing the lead by any more. Starcraft wasn't coming back by any votes, but Wind Waker's percentage started to drop. Regardless of these intial signs, Starcraft wasn't able to start any substansial comeback and Wind Waker slowly worked its way up to a 2000 vote lead, right as the evening began. Despite its laziness during the afternoon, Wind Waker had established a sizable lead, and people were congratulating Starcraft for doing as well as it did, thinking that a comeback from this much of a defecit was impossible.

And then around 7-8 P.M. EST*, Starcraft started to come back. At first it wasn't by much and was simply blown off as Starcraft's traditional night vote. In the first two hours, Starcraft cut off less than 200 votes. With only six hours left to go, Starcraft would have to pick up the pace if it had any hope at winnning the match.

However, Starcraft did start picking up the pace. In the next hour, Starcraft came back 250 votes. Every minute that went by Starcraft kept methodically picking up the pace, gobbling up more and more votes. With four hours left in the poll, Starcraft still had 1300 votes to make up, and it would take a miracle for this comeback to sustain itself. However, when it came to Starcraft there was never any short supply of miracles and within an hour it had chopped the lead down to less than 1000 votes and wasn't about to stop any time soon. It was coming back 100 votes in less than 10 minutes, and was going on one of the fastest last minute comebacks we would ever see. With two hours left in the poll it had cut the lead down to 500 and was set for a win if it continued its current pace. It tore through the next hour. With only one hour left in the poll, the lead had gone down to single digits and Starcraft was tying it up!




*I'm doing this assuming that the polls had now started at 3-4 A.M. EST.
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

Starcraft kept up with the vote shift, giving itself a 100 vote lead within 15 minutes. However, half an hour before the poll ended, its comeback stopped, and Wind Waker started to reverse the lead itself. If Wind Waker was able to have a third of Starcraft's power, it could win the match. However, this was not to be. After a futile fifteen minutes of trying Wind Waker gave up and Starcraft was able to stabilize its fragile lead.

When the poll ended, Starcraft had done the unthinkable and made its way to the Elite Eight, beating a Zelda game in the process. CJay even made a topic stating he had found no evidence of cheating, and featuring interesting statistics about voting habits among certain Internet providers. Whether or not you think Starcraft's later controversy marred its legitimacy, you can not deny this was an incredible match.
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

what did CJayC say? I think it was something about mass votes from mainland China that were all legal servers?
---
As soon as Louisville puts it on Kentucky it will be clear. ~I am a sk8boarder
Final Score: Kentucky wins 73-61

Although an enjoyable yet pathetic part of the aftermath of Starcraft were people saying "OMG BAN VOTES FROM ASIA!"
XD
---
As soon as Louisville puts it on Kentucky it will be clear. ~I am a sk8boarder
Final Score: Kentucky wins 73-61

I remember some mention about how large of a portion of Wind Waker's votes came from AOL users.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

I remember some mention about how large of a portion of Wind Waker's votes came from AOL users.

I believe the exact quote was "65% of the Koran netblock voted for Starcraft. Just as unsurprisingly 65% of AOL users voted for Wind Waker."
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

let me go dig it up..

The standard "Nope, no mass cheating" topic...
From: CJayC | Posted: 5/29/2004 11:25:45 PM | Message Detail
Checked over voting data, checking IP addresses and the usual stuff. No aberrant data pops up.
No mass proxy voting, no mass votes from a single IP address or a range of addresses that
doesn't have around as many votes for the other side. Voting is fairly 50/50 across the board,
with very few exceptions. The biggest voters, by IP block:
* Comcast subscribers are voting for Starcraft 51%
* Cox Cable users are pro-Zelda, voting 52%
* AOL users are the biggest Zelda fans at 65%
* Just as unsurprisingly, the Korean netblock is voting Starcraft, but again, just at 65%

Fun with numbers.

And, from the contest rules, announced from the very beginning, in case you've forgotten:

While we do make every effort to stop individuals from voting numerous times without
restricting anyone from voting that wants to legitimately, outside forces can and will attempt
to push the vote for their favorite.

---
I'm drunk with power!
Wait, no, "Buttershots". I'm drunk with "Buttershots"!

---
xyzzy

in particular, I remember the AOL comment riling up the board a bit.
---
xyzzy

Tag.
---
*gets shot* (\^^/) RIP N3k74r 297 Karma :( (\^^/)
Liquid

bump
---
[=[_] =] Nintendo DS
[+[_]·:·] See double while sober!

once again...
---
[=[_] =] Nintendo DS
[+[_]·:·] See double while sober!

This week's been really hectic. I'll try to have a new one posted on Thursday.
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

B ump
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

Tag
---
Viva la Raza!
RIP Eddie Guerrero, 1967-2005

tag
---
.....________________Nominate Midgar Zolom for SC2k6!
.....|....O......__....O....| Victoly is mine!

Disagreeing with a lot of the rankings, but the writeups are fantastic. Keep up the good work, Yesmar! Oh, but do you think you could include links to the poll updates for future writeups? Remember that data for some of the best pre-creative matches can be found at thengamer, including Mario/Crono II, DK/TV, and many others.

And trans, didn't middle school teach you how to cite your sources? The shocking lack of thengamer linkage in this topic is, frankly, shocking!

---
the-elite.net congratulates voltch, "Top Ten" Guru Champion!
Ngamer's Contest Archives: http://thengamer.com/gamefaqs/

ATTENTION: EVERYTHING I'VE PASTED IS CREDIT TO NGAMER64 @ THENGAMER.COM

THANKS

---
xyzzy
HeroicGammaRay > me

Remember that data for some of the best pre-creative matches can be found at thengamer, including Mario/Crono II, DK/TV, and many others.

Thank you so much. You don't happen to know if there's one like this for 2002 or the first part of Sp2004 do you?
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

Tag. This list rocks so far.
---
R.I.P Eddie Guerrero...Viva La Raza
The WWEGSB Hardcore Legend Masa

Tag. Awesome list!
---
R.I.P. Eddie Guerrero 1967-2005
Lying, cheating, and stealing up in heaven

6. Frog Vs. Master Chief (2004)

Frog 50% 45524
Master Chief 50% 45517
TOTAL VOTES 91041
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k4/sum04b39.jpg
http://sc2k5.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1756

When the bracket for 2004 was first released, Frog was supposed to have a easy path to the Sweet Sixteen before a match with Snake that where he was supposed to have an outside chance at winning. He was hyped that much, and nobody expected him to have any trouble before his match with Snake. However, after Frog has his hands full with Liquid Snake, his match with Solid was no longer considered debatable and the real debate turned to his match with Halo's main man, a character whose sophomore game was starting to build up one of the biggest hype machines seen in years. With people screaming "Flop!" all around him, Frog had to prove that he had what it took to deserve all of his pre-contest hype.

After the bell sounded, Frog took off with the same ferocity that Chrono Trigger and its characters always took with the night vote. His lead was much, much higher than it had been in his match with Liquid Snake, and when the sun rose, he already had gained roughly 55% of the vote. As the morning vote kicked in and the match continued, Frog started to gain less and less votes per update, but despite all this, he was still gaining and he still continued on with a percentage of of over 53% and a maximum vote lead of 2399 votes.

However, once the afternoon vote started coming in the tide of the match began to turn. Frog's vote gains began to evaporate and instead Master Chief started to cut into the lead himself. The initial comeback wasn't altogether too surprising. X-Box was popular with the afterschool voters as had been seen previously, and although people knew this would lower Frog's lead, for Master Chief to come back he would have to pull off a performance on par with *Starcraft* a performance many people thought a character as hated as Master Chief would not be capable of doing.

Master Chief soon proved all of his naysayers wrong and began to come back with a vengeance. While Frog is strong with the night vote, his weakness lies with the day vote, and this weakness combined with a newly boosted X-Box day vote only led to Frog's 2000+ vote lead collapse into shambles like a poorly made deck of cards. Things were only to get even more heated when a major Halo fansite (bungie.org, I believe) posted a link on their main page encouraging visitors to vote for Master Chief at GameFAQS. This only helped Master Chief come back even faster and cries of "Cheater!" flooded the boards.

Master Chief managed to cut the lead down to 1000 votes just two hours into the comeback and only kept up with this pace as people returned from schools and the afternoon vote roared on. In another two hours, he cut another 1000 votes off the lead and by 8:00 PM EST he had come all the way back and obtained the lead for himself. Unlike other close matches, Master Chief didn't stay around to duel for the lead and kept chugging away with the lead, attempting to build up a sizable lead for himself with the first night vote. For two hours, Master Chief worked at increasing his lead to 600 votes. Getting the early portion of the night vote, most people thought that a Frog counter-comeback was impossible at this point and that Master Chief had pulled off the upset.

---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

However, Frog soon proved that he was not the only choke artist in this match and with only five hours left to go, set off with his own comeback, allowing Master Chief the opportunity to see what it was like to have his house of cards collapse from beneath him. Although not as dramatic as Master Chief's earlier comeback, Frog started pulling away with the second night vote, and cutting into the lead slowly and surely each update.

Although he lacked the rapid nature of Master Chief, he only had 600 votes to go and in four hours, Frog was able to pull it off and come back into the lead. However, unlike Master Chief's duelless lead change hours earlier, Master Chief was not going to let Frog get back into the lead without a fight. With only an hour left to go in the match, the two characters went back and forth in the match constantly swapping the lead without either character getting the push necessary to win. It would all come down to who managed to be lucky enough to be in the lead when the poll ended.

By pure luck, it ended up being Frog, and in the only 50/50 finish in contest history he ended up winning by SEVEN votes! In case you didn't see that earlier, Frog won by friggin' *seven* votes, making this the closest match of all time, and giving Frog the lowest combined vote margin of any Sweet Sixteen entrant ever (100 votes.)
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

Frog/MC is definitely in my top 10. Good deal.
---
R.I.P Eddie Guerrero...Viva La Raza
The WWEGSB Hardcore Legend Masa

hmm.. top 5 means guessing what's left!

- Mario / Cloud
- Mario/ Crono 2
- Frog / LS
- Samus / Sonic 1
- I'm sure I'm missing something.. umm.. DK/Duck Hunt? Sonic/MM? I doubt either of those two, but maybe!
---
xyzzy

How bout DK/MC in this past contest?
---
"One who knows nothing can understand nothing"-Ansem Kingdom Hearts

15. Donkey Kong Vs. Tommy Vercetti (2003)

Donkey Kong 49.52% 50457
Tommy Vercetti 50.48% 51425
TOTAL VOTES 101882
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k3/thumb_sum03b47.jpg

---
xyzzy

All the matches in transience's list are ****ing disgraces for the site, save for Frog/LS, which didn't matter much.
---
"Cloud... Words aren't the only thing that tells people what you're thinking..." - Tifa

wah.

Samus/Sonic was great.

---
xyzzy

It was great alright... A great display of people's lack of taste.
---
"Cloud... Words aren't the only thing that tells people what you're thinking..." - Tifa

Frog/MC... what a great match. The writeups are great, even if the ordering is kind of weird.

For the top 5... obviously Mario/Cloud, Mario/Crono 2k3, and Sonic/Samus will be there. There really aren't two other matches that could be considered better than Frog/MC or SC/WW. But I'm guessing DK/DH and ... Mario/Samus?
---
SC2k5 and SpC2k5 First Vote Champion
Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

I can't imagine Mario/Samus being on anyone's list. there has never been a more anticlimactic match.

---
xyzzy

15. Donkey Kong Vs. Tommy Vercetti (2003)

He said DK vs. MC from 2005, not that one.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

And I can't see Frog/Liquid Snake beating out Frog/MC.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

uhh... whoops! that match was close, but it was never exciting. I can't imagine it being top 5.

Frog/LS is most likely in there - I can't imagine 25 matches being better than it, plus I can't think of anything else.
---
xyzzy

Like I said, if Frog/MC hadn't been listed already, then maybe. As it stands, nah. Frog/Liquid wasn't better than that one.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

Stop calling him "Kefka Palazzo." That's not his name.

You prefer Cefca Palazzo? Big difference eh? No.
---
Uh oh, they started moving their legs back and forth while standing in place. You're about to fight aren't you? - My friend watching me play FFT

re-tag
---
This Party's Gettin' Crazy . . . Let's Rock!
Cisse is the black Andy Cole. - Sisko

No, he just says that Kefka doesn't actually have a last name.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

i am intrigued at what the top 5 will be

great write ups so far
---
~Have wings, Will Fly~

Palazzo is official though. I can understand made up crap like "Dragmire" but just because Palazzo isn't referenced in the game doesn't mean it should be disregarded.
---
Uh oh, they started moving their legs back and forth while standing in place. You're about to fight aren't you? - My friend watching me play FFT

And as for what else? If it wasn't the top 5, I'd almost guess Snake vs. Sora. That was a great day.

Mario/Cloud
Mario/Crono II
Sonic/Samus I

Those three seem like givens at this point. Other than that, possibilities?

Sonic/Mega Man
Ocelot/Pac-Man (?)
Squall/Vincent (?)
Snake/Bowser (?)
Tidus/Shadow (?)
Tidus/Ganon (probably not, since Ganon/Magus was already here)
DK/Duck Hunt
Pac-Man/Kefka (?)

Feel like there's one I'm missing.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

Squall/Vincent would make my top 25, but not my top 5. same with Sonic/MM. DK/DH seems a good choice just because of the massive comeback. the rest, especially the Pac-Man matches, weren't that great to me.
---
xyzzy

"Dragmire" is in the LttP manual, right?
---
Y'know, a girl should really consider a change of career when getting shot out of a mass driver at hypersonic speeds seems mundane.
-Samus Aran (M''')

Yeah, but I can't really think of any others. But again, for some reason, I feel like there's a key match I'm forgetting.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

Sora/Ryu might be another possibility, but again it's a match that feels like it should be near the bottom of the top 25, not the top 5.
---
SC2k5 and SpC2k5 First Vote Champion
Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

Eh, Sora/Ryu was good for the same reason Squall/Luigi was, and there wasn't a better match for that sort of scenario.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

Well, before I start the top 5 let's have a recap:

25. Link Vs. Cloud Strife (2003)
24. Mega Man Vs. Ms. Pac-Man (2002)
23. Mega Man Vs. Sephiroth (2002)
22. Ganondorf Dragmire Vs. Magus Zeal (2003)
21. Solid Snake Vs. Tanner (2004)
20. Final Fantasy Tactics Vs. Metal Gear Solid (Sp2004)
19. Kuja Vs. Master Hand (Sp2005)
18. Gordon Freeman Vs. Tina Armstrong (2002)
17. Magus Zeal Vs. Knuckles the Echidna (2005)
16. Ryu Hyubasa Vs. Jill Valentine (2004)
15. Donkey Kong Vs. Tommy Vercetti (2003)
14. Mario Mario Vs. Crono (2002)
13. Chrono Trigger Vs. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Sp2004)
12. Starcraft Vs. Super Smash Brothers Melee (Sp2004)
11. Squall Leonhart Vs. Luigi Mario (2003)
10. Donkey Kong Vs. Aya Brea (2002)
9. Halo Vs. Starcraft (Sp2004)
8. Kefka Palazzo Vs. Tommy Vercetti (2005)
7. Starcraft Vs. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Sp2004)
6. Frog Vs. Master Chief (2004)

And in my next post, the Top 5 will begin.

P.S. Oh, I was away on the day of Mega Man Vs. Sonic, so the match kinda means nothing to me, so I didn't really put it into consideration. Sorry for any fans of it.
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

'twas my favourite match from 2k5. it's not top 5 material though.

top 25 though, yeah.
---
xyzzy

it's a bird it's a plane it's tony it's stupid it's matcholicous it's g
---
cats > jesus in mittens -transience

5. Frog Vs. Liquid Snake (2004)

Frog 50.05% 43913
Liquid Snake 49.95% 43820
TOTAL VOTES 87733
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k4/sum04b13.jpg
http://sc2k5.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=1730

Although a lot of people point towards Frog's later match with Master Chief as the superior of his first two matches, I'm gonna have to go with his contest debut. Sure, the vote differential of the latter match might have been in the single digits, but it took half the match before things got interesting. This match was tension filled since the very beginning.

I talked in my previous write-up about how much of a favorite Frog was coming into this match, and to add an additional statistic to the list, in Slowflake's Board Odds Project, Frog had the tenth highest odds, the highest besides the Noble Nine. Only three people who entered their bracket thought Liquid Snake had a shot at beating Frog. Even in the Stats Topic, the concept of Liquid Snake was treated as an interesting "What If?" not a very possible outcome.

However, from the second the match started, all expectations about Frog completely imploded. While many people had projected Frog to beat Liquid with over 60%, Frog was struggling to muster over 51% and this was at his best time. Frog was able to hang onto a small lead with the early morning/board vote, but once the first vestiges of the day vote began, Liquid Snake started coming back and soon took the lead, shocking everyone.

Fortunately for the board, Liquid's lead only lasted for an hour, and once the latter part of the morning vote came in, Frog was able to use it to start rebuilding his own lead. Although he faltered at times, Frog was able to build up his lead throughout the morning to a maximum lead of 382 in the early afternoon. This lead was the largest lead gotten by any party during the whole day, and the match still stands as the closest wire-to wire match in Contest History.

This minuscule amount proved not to be enough for Frog and as the afternoon vote came in, Liquid Snake started coming back, finally retaking the lead as the evening started. From this point until the very early morning, there would be no more vote shifts. The early evening vote didn't come along to save Frog, and for most of the night the match went back and forth like a tennis match with neither side getting any sort of advantage.

I remember this match happening on the night of the 2004 Olympic Opening Ceremony, and whenever I ran upstairs during a commercial to check the results, a different character was winning. You couldn't have picked a better time for a match to go wire to wire than what happened during this match. From around 6 P.M.-12 A.M. is the busiest time on the boards, and is also the time I usually get online for the night. And for these prime hours of contest popularity, the match stood still.

Three hours before the match ended, Frog's evening vote finally came in and he started building up a second lead, at one point reaching 164 votes, which for the match, was a lot. Although Liquid did start coming back in the last half hour of the match, it was too little too late, and Frog took his minuscule 93 vote lead and rode it to the win.
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

I always had one problem with the Frog matches - they were close, but they just weren't important like Mario/Crono or Sonic/Samus. it was a first or second round match with little implication on the rest of the bracket.

still good matches, though. I don't really have a preference between MC or LS.

---
xyzzy

but if you got frog/liquid wrong you lose 3 points and in 2k4 that was a lot really.
---
Nominate CATS,Jay Solano,Weedle and Ifnkovhgroghprm for sc2k6

I don't mean it in the points way - I mean that no matter who won the match, they were going to lose to Snake. I felt the same way about TV/Kefka - I didn't really care about either character and the winner was going to get tripled by Crono. if I had to choose between a 200 vote match in the fourth round or a 7 vote match in the second, I'd choose the 200 vote one every time. it just means more.

this is why I think LTTP/CT is extremely underrated - two heavyweights (#3 and #4) deadlocked for hours. if that was, say, SC/KH, it's a boring match. (SC being Soul Calibur, not Starcraft)
---
xyzzy

Bump to save
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

Well, at the time, Kingdom Hearts losing in the second round wasn't exactly a given, I don't think.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

bump
---
[=[_] =] Nintendo DS
[+[_]·:·] See double while sober!

I'd have Mario/Cloud at #1. I am interested to see where it ends up on your list.
---
Board 8: Where people treat each other right.

hmm, if I had to rank what I assume the last four matches are:

4 - DK/DH
3 - Mario/Cloud
2 - Sonic/Samus
1 - M/C II

the only reason I rank Sonic/Samus above Mario/Cloud is because it happened first. they're about equal in my book; plus, I prefer Samus to Sonic and Cloud to Mario, so it was more enjoyable.

---
xyzzy

4. Mario Mario Vs. Cloud Strife (2002)

Mario 50.11% 64990
Cloud Strife 49.89% 64713
TOTAL VOTES 129703
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k2/sum02b57.jpg

It is impossible to talk about contest hype, without mentioning this match. Although, we've had hyped matches since 2002, barely any compare to this showdown. Due to it being the first contest, it was hard for any matches in 2002 pass the second round to have much hype. It was just too unpredictable. However, one match was known for sure, and that was the battle for North Division Champion.

In a contest full of uncertainties, this match was considered certain, and in a way the whole contest revolved around this match, as if everything that happened in the contest was leading up to it. Every other match was used to add some sort of insight towards this matches result no matter how tenuous the connection was.

And so, to start the hype for this match, I must start at the very first match of this contest, the very first contest match ever. Although he headed into the match as the favorite to win, Marip's performance against Servbot was in retrospect, disappointing. Although 74% seemed like a lot at the time, once we saw some of the blowouts of the later first round, Mario's performance against Servbot, a character nearing "joke" level, seemed disenheartening. On the other hand, Cloud's performance against Fox made him look very powerful. People were predicting a close match, some even an upset, but instead Cloud blew out his first round opponent by slightly more than Mario did.

In the second round, Mario didn't fare much better. He struggled to double Morrigan, a character who wasn't even supposed to make it this far, while Cloud increased his winning percentage, getting 78% against Nintendo's new mascot, Pikachu. Two rounds down, two Nintendo mascots beaten. Would Cloud be able to pull out the hat trick two rounds later? By this point, the match had become Cloud's to lose.

However, by the time of the third round, when all hope appeared to be lost for Mario supporters, Mario was delivered a much needed shot in the arm. He was able to pull off an 80%+ win in his match with Donkey Kong, bettering Cloud's biggest win one round later. Getting 80% in match was one thing, but getting it in the third round was impressive. We had no idea about SFF at this time either, so Mario's performance was very impressive. Cloud went on to beat Alucard with 69%, a respectable amount, but nothing considered impressive enough to make him a clear-cut favorite again.

And then, the fourth round dawned, and the match began:

---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

As the match opened, the early board initially favored Mario. Back in the early days of the contests, the first vote usually favored bracket votes, and Mario's huge amount of support allowed him to grab an brief lead of 55% for the first hour or so. However, as the first hour wore on, Cloud rushed back to claim the lead and hung onto it throughout the rest of the first night vote. As the early morning wore on, Cloud began to build up a lead and headed into the daytime with a sizable lead. Even as the initial morning vote wore on, Cloud continued to increase his lead, bringing it up to 1000 votes by midmorning time.

At this point it was beginning to look as if Mario would need a miracle to win the match, but as it would later turn out, Mario would get not one, but two miracles that day.

To start off with, as if through some sort of divine intervention, this match happened to be held on a very special day in the Mario universe, and boy was it a big one. The day of the match happened to be the US release date for Super Mario Sunshine, the very first original Mario platformer to be released in 6 years. Although this didn't help Mario much in the early morning hours, as the morning winded on people began coming home after purchasing their brand new Mario game and as they logged onto GameFAQS happened to notice that the star of the game they were playing happened to be involved in the current match. Now, who would not vote for the character they had just been playing as minutes ago? Around midmorning, SMS's release finally began to kick in, and Mario started a comeback.

However, while steady, the comeback was small, and that was where Miracle #2 came in around noontime. Planet GameCube, a web site featuring Nintendo news and information, a web site that I assume had more than its normal share of visitors that day, posted a link on their front page encouraging people to go to GameFAQS and vote for Mario. What started as a small comeback for Mario, turned into an outright tear, as Mario raced ahead for the lead.

However, while the link may have pushed Mario to within a hundred or so votes of the lead, as the afternoon wore on, the comeback slowed, and while Cloud was hanging on by the tips of his fingers, it looked as if he was still hanging on. However, all of a sudden, at the end of the afternoon, Mario started racing ahead again, and not only came back to take the lead, but did so with a 200 vote cushion to bring him into the night vote. Throughout the night vote, Cloud kept coming back, teasing at the lead, trying to retake it, but Mario remained in control. As the last hour began, Mario surged forward again, halting any further attempts at a comeback, and securing a vote win for himself when all was said and done.

Despite all the controversy surrounding the day of the match, Planet GameCube (Apparently Ceej sent them an angry e-mail), and Mario's afternoon vote surge, the results stayed, and Mario's 277 vote win carried him into the next round.

Most people analyzing this match in later years would come to the conclusion that Cloud "should" have won with roughly 52%, and some theories giving him as high a percentage as 56%. However, despite what "should" have happened, Mario managed to come to this match on a day where everything just "clicked" for him, securing him a spot in the Final 4 and proving that no matter what is "supposed" to happen, on any given day, anything is possible.

---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

wow, I didn't think any match would top the big three - Mario/Crono, Sonic/Samus, Mario/Cloud. interesting.

---
xyzzy

Heh, there goes my #1. I still maintain that Mario/Cloud is the greatest contest match of all time. As for the remainder of the list, the only match I can see that even holds a candle to Mario/Crono II and Samus/Sonic is DK/DH, and that one would just seem strange being so high atop the list (it was good, but better than BOTH Starcraft matches?).

A part of me almost expects to see Link/Ganondorf. It was one of the most incredible days we've ever had, but once again, top three material? Doubt it.
---
Board 8: Where people treat each other right.

Tag.
---
*gets shot* (\^^/) RIP N3k74r 297 Karma :( (\^^/)
Liquid

Yeah, I'm really confused about what the third match in the top 3 will be. I just can't see any remaining match placing that high. Unless... CATS/Ansem???
---
SC2k5 and SpC2k5 First Vote Champion
Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

Most people analyzing this match in later years would come to the conclusion that Cloud "should" have won with roughly 52%, and some theories giving him as high a percentage as 56%.

Once you know just what Tails and Alucard are really worth, Cloud should have actually come closer to 60%. Truly the biggest miracle to happen in these contests, bar none.
---
Y'know, a girl should really consider a change of career when getting shot out of a mass driver at hypersonic speeds seems mundane.
-Samus Aran (M''')

Wow, there were some pretty ****ed up vote percentages in 2k2 O_O


TuRtLe
~~~
Necron can be easily explained. He's just the embodiment of the player who desires the ultimate destruction of the pitiful world of FFIX.- Do not even ask

---
(|| ' ' ||) Copy the Prince of All Cosmos into your sig
. /|_|\ to help him on his way to internet domination!

*holds out for Scorpion/Pac-Man*
---
Voltch is infinitely better than me at being a Guru. Then again, given my score, that's not saying much. Congrats, though.

It's hard to say what Alucard is really worth. We haven't had a solid reading on him perhaps ever.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

Actually, his results against Tails, Sephiroth and Sora all point in the same direction.
---
Y'know, a girl should really consider a change of career when getting shot out of a mass driver at hypersonic speeds seems mundane.
-Samus Aran (M''')

We didn't ever have a good reading on Tails for three years. His 2003 match against Sephiroth is still dubious. And we have no idea where Sora is this year.

Not so reliable. Quite frankly, I don't care how you look at it, there's really no way Cloud should have won with 60% there.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

For kicks, Sephiroth did 3 points better on Alucard the next year, and got 62% on Mario.
---
Y'know, a girl should really consider a change of career when getting shot out of a mass driver at hypersonic speeds seems mundane.
-Samus Aran (M''')

I'm not buying a 10% swing because of SMS and a link. Forgive me.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

I bet you aren't buying a 6-7% swing in Magus' favor against Link either, for whatever reason. **** happens.
---
Y'know, a girl should really consider a change of career when getting shot out of a mass driver at hypersonic speeds seems mundane.
-Samus Aran (M''')

That's a bad correlation to make considering we've seen signs that Chrono Trigger characters with sprites do perform better, but whatever you say.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

Samus/Sonic 2K2 for #1!
---
The only "killer" quotes Eiko has are the ones that make you actually want to kill her.
- LeonhartForever

Why Frog and Magus, but not Crono is a very good question. And why CT side characters, but not every other character ever made?
---
Y'know, a girl should really consider a change of career when getting shot out of a mass driver at hypersonic speeds seems mundane.
-Samus Aran (M''')

tag :)

I still say that Frog and Magus benefitted from bandwagons wanted to see them go out with a blast rather than sprites. They just happened to go out during the sprite rounds.

Well, also maybe because Link's Zelda 1 sprite with his Bible shield doesn't exactly make someone drool...
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

Well, also maybe because Link's Zelda 1 sprite with his Bible shield doesn't exactly make someone drool...

Neither does Snake's sprite. If there was an irregularity in the match results because of pictures, it was definitely the fault of all the characters involved (Link, Magus, Snake, and Frog).
---
pi

I was just thinking about Solid **** as well. I'm really thinking that it wasn't Magus and Frog benefitting from their sprites rather than them benefitting from their opponent's crappy pics while having sprites that pretty much retain all of the appeal of their character art.
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

But we're talking about a very large chunk of the voter base. Judging from what we saw from Frog and Liquid this year, Frog wasn't supposed to get 40% on Snake. I honestly have a hard time believing people care so much about pictures that they'd actually sway the vote of one voter out of ten.
---
Y'know, a girl should really consider a change of career when getting shot out of a mass driver at hypersonic speeds seems mundane.
-Samus Aran (M''')

IMO, its just a first year rush. What I mean is, Magus will never do as good as he did in 2K3, Frog would never do as good as in 2K4, even Tifa or Vincent would never do as good as they did this year. Just a thought (if that even makes sense).
---
The only "killer" quotes Eiko has are the ones that make you actually want to kill her.
- LeonhartForever

That's what I mean by bandwagon.
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

Tifa didn't have a bandwagon effect though. I don't really think Vincent did either.
---
"A huge void in her heart. It is filled not by darkness, but kindness from others." - Presea Combatir, the Empty Soul

I don't think it applies to Vincent and Tifa though. FFVII is always going to be a juggernaut on this site.
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

DAMMIT! Beaten by Leonhart again!
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

Vincent might have had a bandwagon effect with an overperformance on Crono, but we don't know if it was that, FF7 > CT reverse SFF, or Advent Children that caused it. Tifa definitely didn't have a bandwagon effect. Sonic beat her handily.
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

IMO, it's a combination of both. I think it's AC that caused Vincent to overperform on Crono, but he wouldn't have if he faced someone not from Square / old Square / whatever. He just faced the perfect opponent.

That'd also explain why Sephiroth didn't wipe out Mario more than he did, and why Link didn't flat-out own both him and Cloud. Or, AC lost its novelty factor pretty quick or something.
---
Y'know, a girl should really consider a change of career when getting shot out of a mass driver at hypersonic speeds seems mundane.
-Samus Aran (M''')

There is no way that Cloud "should have" won with 60% given the hype going into that match and the massive rallying that was bound to take place. That remains as the biggest match that's ever taken place around these parts (people were ABSOLUTELY INSANE over it from the day the bracket came out), and to go back and assume that new numbers have any bearing on the old ones is a bit ridiculous. I can't buy anything higher than 52-55%.

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
Currently Playing: Dragon Warrior, Deus Ex, Perfect Dark, FFTA

For reference's sake, there were 25000-30000 more voters on that day than on any other match this year.

Although, for that to make a difference Mario'd need over 80% of these new votes to win.

...yeah. I don't get it either, but for Alucard and Tails to look like such huge wusses... I don't believe in coincidences.
---
Y'know, a girl should really consider a change of career when getting shot out of a mass driver at hypersonic speeds seems mundane.
-Samus Aran (M''')

What's #3?
---
SC2k5 and SpC2k5 First Vote Champion
Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

Oh, yeah, I made a calculation error there. It should really be mid-to-high 50s for Cloud.
---
Y'know, a girl should really consider a change of career when getting shot out of a mass driver at hypersonic speeds seems mundane.
-Samus Aran (M''')

3. Sonic the Hedgehog Vs. Samus Aran (2002)

Sonic the Hedgehog 49.98% 41939
Samus Aran 50.02% 41973
TOTAL VOTES 83912
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k2/sum02b55.jpg

Coming into this match, Sonic was a huge favorite. He had a long history and a classic game series to back him up, and he has just starred in Sonic Adventure 2, which had recently been ported to the Gamecube. Not counting Smash Brothers, Samus's last game was eight years ago. Sure SSBM had just been released, but in the GOTY poll for 2001 FFX massacred it, and Sonic had just beaten that game's main character by nearly 60%.

Sonic's previous contest performance had been considered impressive. Sure he faltered a little against Tidus, but the poll had been down during his best period of the day, and he still had broken 80+ on Pitfall Harry. Mario Vs. Sonic was considered a sexy finals prediction before brackets were locked. On the other hand, Samus's performances against the Street Fighter duo had been respectable but nothing groundbreaking. Although there was a sizable minority that steadfastly said Samus would win, the majority of the board was in the Sonic camp.

The match itself was crazy from the start. Due to a delay, the poll was late and didn't start until 3 A.M. Most of the bracket voters had gone to sleep, and Samus was actually able to gain a lead in the early hours of the poll. Her and Sonic went back and forth all through the morning hours, and people were amazed.

However, once the day vote closed in, Sonic started running away with the lead and soon built himself a lead of 2000 votes. Although everyone was shocked at how close Samus had come to winning, everyone also assumed that the match was pretty much over. Samus tried making some inroads all throughout the day, but Sonic just hovered around 2000 votes during the whole match. Even as the first night vote kicked in, Sonic held on to his lead and didn't appear to be in any danger of losing it.

With two hours left to go Sonic was ahead by 1500 votes, and was ready to put himself into cruise control for the rest of the match. However, Sonic's momentary rest stop proved to be his undoing because at approximately 10 P.M. EST, Samus started what might be the most impressive comeback this contest has ever seen, and exploded with a power that even her most powerful weapons could never equal.

As the night went on, Samus kept picking up speed and coming back by more and more and more. Sonic fans were hoping for anything, any glitch in the system, anything to slow down Samus who was now speeding towards the lead faster than the Blue Blur himself. As the match drew towards its conclusion, it appeared as if Samus would end up winning right in the nick of time. However, as soon as she pulled into the lead Sonic finally woke up and started fighting back. With only minutes left to go, Sonic tried putting up the best defense he could and for the final minutes of the match, the two characters were essentially tied. However, when all was said and done, Samus was ahead when the match ended. Ahead by 34 votes, a record that would last for two years.

There was so much rapid refreshing at this point that one of the servers even crashed, and it was because of this match that the fifteen-minute interval updates would be instituted. Truly a match for the ages, Samus's controversial comeback would mark the beginnings of a board explosion that would last for three days, and bring a state of chaos to the board that we have never seen since.
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

There is no way that Cloud "should have" won with 60% given the hype going into that match and the massive rallying that was bound to take place. That remains as the biggest match that's ever taken place around these parts (people were ABSOLUTELY INSANE over it from the day the bracket came out), and to go back and assume that new numbers have any bearing on the old ones is a bit ridiculous. I can't buy anything higher than 52-55%.

When people say "should have" I think they mean if there wasn't all the hype and massive vote rallying. New numbers aren't completely meaningless. 55-60% may not be likely but it was possible.
---
Ranulf: '''We run up the mountain as quickly as possible and smash the enemy commander!' Right?''
Ike: ''Right... How did you--''

I wasn't even HERE then and that result hurts.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

Tag
---
"I like swords!" - Fighter
Now Playing: Xenosaga: Episode II, Mario Kart DS.

I just read through the whole topic... Hot damn. This is great.
---
Ignorance is bliss, no wonder I'm never happy. >_<
*Ching* Scythe Marshall ready to slaughter! FFT Junkie

New Year's bump
---
[=[_] =] Nintendo DS
[+[_]·:·] See double while sober!

Worst. Match. Ever.
---
"Cloud... Words aren't the only thing that tells people what you're thinking..." - Tifa

Nah, there were match results worse than that, though probably not many.
---
Yuna: "Stay with me until the end. Please."
Tidus: "Not until the end. Always."

I remember Sonic/Samus so vividly. I've never really been a big Sonic fan, but at the time, I just didn't care about Samus and felt she had no right to face a legend of the industry. Man, that result pissed me off.

Of course, now that I've played through three Metroid titles and logged in a few hundred hours in SSBM, I'm glad the match turned out the way it did.
---
Board 8: Where people treat each other right.

This topic kicks ass. The writeups are almost as good as mine. \m/

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
Currently Playing: Dragon Warrior, Deus Ex, Perfect Dark, FFTA

Bump again...
---
Ignorance is bliss, no wonder I'm never happy. >_<
*Ching* Scythe Marshall ready to slaughter! FFT Junkie

Sorry about the scarcity of updates. I haven't been having a very good week. I'll try to post the last two this week, probably at the same time.
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

That's okay. Hope your week gets better.
---
Ignorance is bliss, no wonder I'm never happy. >_<
*Ching* Scythe Marshall ready to slaughter! FFT Junkie

This topic kicks ass. The writeups are almost as good as mine. \m/

That was unintentionally arrogant. <_<
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

No, it was intentionally arrogant. I do like this topic, though. It kicks ass.

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
Currently Playing: Dragon Warrior, Deus Ex, Perfect Dark, FFTA

From: UltimaterializerX | #294
No, it was intentionally arrogant. I do like this topic, though. It kicks ass.

~*ST*~


XD
---
In fact, Jesus is planning on knighting me. -- chaoscell

Bring on #2!

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
Currently Playing: Dragon Warrior, Deus Ex, Perfect Dark, FFTA

2. Donkey Kong Vs. Duck Hunt (Sp2004)

Donkey Kong 50.07% 48587
Duck Hunt 49.93% 48444
TOTAL VOTES 97031
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/spc2k4/spr04b05.jpg
http://www.thengamer.com/gamefaqs/04Spring/04Spring-AllVoteUpdates.txt

There are many reasons people criticize this match. It was a first round match people say. Neither game had a shot at winning in the next round. They both ended up as fodder. However, it is because of these reasons that I love this match so much. The fact that this match had all these factors, and still managed to prove exciting makes it all the more amazing, and trust me, this is one of the most amazing matches we have ever seen.

Although 73% of bracketeers picked Donkey Kong to win, this was a fairly debated match on the board. Donkey Kong was also the board's favorite, but there was still a sizable and vocal minority voicing their counterpoints.

Sadly for the Duck Hunt supporters the match started off squarely in their disfavor. Within two and a half hours, DK had stormed off to a lead of over 500 votes and went into the morning vote with a lead approaching 56%. DK was able to sustain this percentage throughout most of the morning and although his total percentage began to slip in the early afternoon, his vote lead was consistently rising, reaching a peak of 3251 around 2:45 PM. A half hour or so earlier, Duck Hunt had actually come back 26 votes, but it appeared to be an anomaly, and there was absolutely *no* talk at the time. Donkey Kong had a lead of over 3000 votes and at that time that was considered an insurmountable feat. Besides, the two games shared virtually identical fanbases. Why in the world would one start coming back?

However, at 3:30 PM EST, Duck Hunt began to do just that, and it was a comeback which would not let up for quite some time. With the match half over and Donkey Kong ahead with 53.87% Duck Hunt sliced 32 votes off the lead. In the next fifteen minute update he sliced of 73, and in the next one after that 84. What was going on? The next update Duck Hunt only managed to slice off one vote. The board let out a small sigh of relief. For whatever reason, that must have been an off hour for the arcade game. Now the match was back on track. However, as it turned out, that one vote update was the abberration, and Duck Hunt began the most massive comeback this board has ever seen. Update after update it sliced votes off the lead. As the afternoon vote flooded ahead it started surging ahead, and these weren't small chunks either. Duck Hunt was striking at least 50 votes off the lead each update, sometimes up to 100.

People began getting slightly worried about Duck Hunt's odd behavior. Still, DK was ahead by well over 2000 votes. In order to have any shot at winning, Duck Hunt would have to continue these updates at the same rate right up until the poll closed. What were the chances of that happening?


---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

However, as the afternoon ended and the night began the day's events would only get more and more bizarre. Rather than die away when the afternoon ended, Duck Hunt began to pick up more steam as it headed into the night. As 8 PM rolled around, Duck Hunt brought the lead under 51.5%. But still, would Duck Hunt be able to keep it up all night? In the updates topic, people would post the amount of votes per update Duck Hunt would need here on in in order to win the match and sure enough by the time the next update rolled around Duck Hunt would have cut that many votes off the lead. The updates weren't anything extreme, but they were all Duck Hunt needed. Donkey Kong's lead which had at one point been over 3000 votes and near 54% was rapidly crumbling. At 10 PM he fell under 51% and at 11:30 PM the lead fell under 1000 votes. People were going insane. It was growing very late at night and Donkey Kong hadn't won an update since mid-afternoon. It looked as if Duck Hunt was going to pull off the upset.

And then at midnight, the brick wall shattered, and the unbelievable had happened. Donkey Kong won an update. For 8 and a half hours Duck Hunt had been coming back and for a while, they had stopped. Initially, this appeared to have stopped the comeback. Duck Hunt used the next two updates to cut into the lead, but they were by punt amounts. It looked as if Donkey Kong would hold onto its lead. However, appearances were deceiving, and with nearly 700 votes to go, Duck Hunt surged ahead with enormous power for the rest of the match, coming back faster that it had before.

However, that was not enough, Duck Hunt dominated every update they won, but Donkey Kong still managed to win two, and it limped into onto the victory podium with a 143 vote lead, a 3,108 difference from its peak in the afternoon.

What the hell happened? Donkey Kong had just been the victim of the biggest comeback the contest has ever seen against a game it shared virtually the same fanbase with. The game which had at one point been winning with 56% had finished with under 50.10%. How had the vote base changed so radically over such a long period and why? Honestly, I have no explanation for the massive shift that happened, and that is why I love this match and debated for a while about whether or not to actually put it on top of my list. Plus, it stands to this day as the largest comeback in contest history.

P.S. Some final stats.

Duck Hunt won a total of 35 15-minute updates in row.

Out of 94 total updates in the match, Donkey Kong won 46. For all those playing along at home, that's less than half.

P.P.S. I know a lot of people complain about the first round, but 4/10 matches in my Top 10 all come from the first round. Take that as you will.

---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

<3 Duck Hunt
---
*gets shot* Phoenix Wright for SC2k6 (\^^/)
Take That! I am become Death, shatterer of worlds.

The final match will go up sometime later this week.
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

aw yeah, called the top five!
---
xyzzy

Looking back on that contest, there are a lot of very close matches that I could have lost had a few people gone the other way.

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
Currently Playing: Dragon Warrior, Deus Ex, Perfect Dark, FFTA

---
(|| ' ' ||) Copy the Prince of All Cosmos into your sig
. /|_|\ to help him on his way to internet domination!

Bump
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

*anticipates*

---
the-elite.net congratulates voltch, "Top Ten" Guru Champion!
Ngamer's Contest Archives: http://thengamer.com/gamefaqs/

---
(|| ' ' ||) Copy the Prince of All Cosmos into your sig
. /|_|\ to help him on his way to internet domination!

;_;
---
(|| ' ' ||) Copy the Prince of All Cosmos into your sig
. /|_|\ to help him on his way to internet domination!

1. Mario Mario Vs. Crono (2003)

Mario 50.05% 66571
Crono 49.95% 66434
TOTAL VOTES 133005
http://www.sc2k5.com/gallery/albums/sc2k3/sum03b53.jpg
http://www.thengamer.com/gamefaqs/03Summer/MarioVSCronoUpdates.txt

And here it is, twenty four matches down, one to go, the match that is in my opinion the best of all time, Mario Vs. Crono Round II.

This was by far the most hyped match when the 2003 bracket was revealed. Mario's road to the finals in 2002 had been full of controversy and there were plenty of Cloud and Crono fans hungering for a chance to get their revenge on Mario. The Crono fans were the ones given the chance and so the second match in this epic contest rivalry was set up. For all intensive purposes, this was considered the climax of the contest, the match that everything would build up to, the same way everything in 2002 was leading up toward Mario Vs. Cloud. Half of the board thought Crono would get his revenge, while the other half thought Mario would hold onto his crown. In short, the board was split down the middle and as the first round dawned people looked towards the stacked South Division to bring us the most exciting matches of the contest.

Mario's first round match against Olimar gave him one of the biggest blow outs in the contest and people awaited his match with Wario to give further signs of his contest strength. However, the match of the "ario"'s was not to be as Shadow beat down Wario with 65% in one of the most massive upsets the contest had ever seen.

Now although the board was salivating for Mario Vs. Crono there still remained one small wrinkle in this plan. Kefka. The villain of FFVI stood along with Magus and Luigi as one of the most hyped newcomers in 2003, and there was even talk of him taking down Crono himself! Although most of the board still though Crono was the stronger of the two, hardly anybody expected Kefka to have any trouble getting to him. His first round opponent was Pac-Man, a "faded" icon who he "should not" have any trouble beating. However, saddled with an unrecognizable picture, Pac-Man gave Kefka a run for his money, and while Kefka won the match, his narrow victory margin spelled doom for any shot he had at beating Crono, although some people still held out hope and blamed Kefka's performance on his picture. Crono himself would go on to get 85% on Tom Nook, parrying Mario's blowout but giving no indication on who would win the upcoming third round match.

While Mario had a slight upper hand in the first round, by the time the second round rolled around he had lost any advantage he had previously obtained. In his match with Shadow the Hedgehog he not only disappointed, in many people's eyes, he failed. Sure he beat Shadow, but the fact that it was only by 55% served as a warning cry to anyone taking Mario any further in the contest. The lowest Oracle prediction for the Nintendo mascot was 61.81% and nothing Crono could do short of lose to Kefka would be as bad. Not only did Crono beat Kefka, he massacred him with a whopping 78%. Although there were talks of SFF at the time, the majority opinion was that Crono had majorly impressed and Mario had majorly disappointed. Although he had been the favorite last year, Mario was actually coming into his second bout with Crono as the underdog.
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

The buildup to this match was beginning to grow and grow and people were wondering if the match would be able to live up to the hype. It ended up not only living up to the hype, but even surpassing it. CJayC even started off the match by giving everyone a prize, opening the match twenty minutes ahead of schedule, not knowing how much this gift would late come back to bite him in the ass. Crono was able to get the initial board vote in the first several minutes. However, Mario kicked him out of that several minutes later and was able to hold onto the lead for half an hour.

His brief lead would prove to be Mario's only lead in these early hours and Crono used the advantages he had with the night vote to build up a lead throughout the early morning. Although he stumbled at times, Crono was able to use the early morning to his advantage and maintained a lead of roughly 51.3% for the whole time, leading to many cries of a Crono victory. Crono kept meticulously building up a lead hour after hour reaching a peak of 742 at 5:45 A.M.

There were plenty of people chanting the common refrain "Just you wait til the kiddies wake up!" pointing towards Mario's match with Cloud the previous year. However, there was no Super Mario Sunshine release this year and Mario would need to come back all on his own. As the sun began to rise on the East Coast, Crono began to falter for an hour or so, as his lead began fluctuating all over the place. However, by 7:00 A.M. Mario began coming back at full force and used the morning vote completely dominated Crono. For the next two hours, Mario tore away at the lead Crono had built in the early morning, only getting stronger and stronger as the day went on. Mario took the lead and didn't look back, surging ahead for half an hour just as strong as before and building himself a 50.20% and 189 vote lead.

However, Mario's surge began to die down shortly thereafter, and he began having the same kind of fluctuating updates that Crono had had a couple of hours earlier. Would Mario be able to hold on? Although his updates went up and down, Crono began slowly chipping into the lead, and Mario appeared to be in troubled waters. Around noontime, the morning vote was beginning to wear off and Crono began coming back with as much of a ferocity as Mario had earlier. By 12:30 P.M. the lead had shifted yet again, and this time Crono began running away with it.

As the afternoon went on Crono began to once again slowly but surely increase both his percentage and vote lead, and all hopes of a Mario comeback began to die away. Mario's icon status wasn't helping any with the day vote and although there were a couple updates where he chipped at the lead, as the day went on these were becoming more and more scarce, and as the evening rolled in, began to disappear entirely.

The mood on the boards around this time was very odd. Although at his max, Crono's lead was 822 (a large, but not insurmountable number) Mario wasn't given any shot at a comeback. The evening hours were Crono's best time. If Mario couldn't manage anything with the latter half of the day vote, what hope did he have with the voting pool that favored Chrono Trigger the most. For all intensive purposes, Crono had won the match. Even Heroic Mario, at the time Mario's staunchest supporter, admitted defeat. Despite the fact that the board liked Crono, there was a sad tone in the air. Mario, a gaming icon, had just lost to Crono, the main character from a board-loved, although still partly niche RPG. Whether or not you agree with that statement, that was the general assessment on the board. Despite all this sadness, there wasn't much arguing. Rather than complain, it seemed as if everyone was accepting the result with a quiet understanding. It was, personally one of my favorite moment on the boards. I logged off, and went to bed thinking that while the character I was rooting for had lost, at least the board appeared to be entering a new, nicer stage of existence.
---

Oh, if only I had stayed online for a couple more hours.

At 10 PM with only two hours left in the match, Crono was set to win. Mario had a made a couple cuts in the lead in the past two hours, but they were all under 20 votes. However, during the 10:15 update, Mario cut the lead by 26 votes. Well, no worries most people thought. Just a small anomaly. Even if Mario did try to make a comeback, there was only an hour and a half left and Crono had over 750 votes. Mario would need to make up 750+ votes in an hour and a half during Crono's best time. Yeah right, like that could happen.

However, the impossible began to be a little more possible as in the next update, Mario sliced 88 votes off the lead, bringing it under 700 votes. Hmm, it appeared as if Mario *was* trying to make a comeback in the closing hours. Still, Mario would have to seriously pick up the pace if he was to have any shot in winning the match. It didn't take long for the other shoe to drop, and by the next fifteen minute update, Mario had cut the lead by 104 votes. People were beginning to get worried. If Mario was able to keep increasing like this, he would bring Crono's lead to almost nothing. Fifteen minutes later, Crono supporters breathed a sigh of relief. Crono was down, but only by 60 votes. With half an hour to go, Crono still had 511 more votes to his name. There was no way Mario could still win this thing.

Fifteen minutes later, all hell began to break loose. Crono was down 130 votes this time, and Mario had officially started on a tear that would not let up until the end of the match, and began what would be one of the fastest comebacks in contest history. He was taking larger and larger chunks off of the lead, at over 100 votes each update. By 11:45 P.M. people were getting worried. Why was Mario coming back *now* at *night,* when Crono was at his best?

However, although Crono only had a lead of 151 votes at 11:45, that would be all he would need. After all, the poll last night had started at 11:45.* 24 hours had gone by and Crono was in the lead, so he would win the match. Right?

As it turned out, that statement was wrong. 24 hours had gone by. However, the poll had not been started at midnight the previous night as most other polls were. Ceej had decided to start the match early, so as to give people an extra twenty minutes of contest fun. However, it would end being Mario, rather than any person watching the contest that would benefit the most from this extension. Mario kept up his pace during this extra update, picking up speed faster than ever before. As midnight drew closer, everyone started rapidly refreshing, knowing that that the outcome of the match would all come down to this one update.

The winner at 12:00 A.M. EST? Mario, with a lead of 92 votes. Ceej would keep the poll open for an extra five minutes to check for cheaters, allowing Mario to increase his lead by an extra 45 votes. However, at this point it didn't matter by how much. The fact that Mario had won at all was amazing. Two hours ago he had been down by well over 700 votes and now he stood up by over 100, pulling off a vote shift of almost 1000 votes in only two hours.

It is not often a match lives up to its hype, and it is less often that a match surpasses it. With so much hype going into it, it seemed impossible that the match could live up to it, but somehow it managed to be even more amazing than most people's wildest expectations, and that is why it is in my opinion, the best GameFAQS contest match of all time.

*Okay, technically 11:40, but it's the closest fifteen minute one.
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

Good #1, I remember there were tons of account suicides after that match. Great fun in watching the poll and greater fun on being on this board for the aftermath.
---
"Only the thing is...we gonna have to take the boy." -- Bluebeard, Lost.

Wow. Very interesting finish to that match.

Good writeups, Yesmar.
---
Ignorance is bliss, no wonder I'm never happy. >_<
*Ching* Scythe Marshall ready to slaughter! FFT Junkie

great writeup on that last match
---
Nominate CATS,Jay Solano,Weedle and Ifnkovhgroghprm for sc2k6

"If Mario beats Crono, I'll close my account and give everyone $20." -Crimson Hellkite

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
Currently Playing: Dragon Warrior, Deus Ex, Perfect Dark, FFTA

Did you ever get the $20?
---
(|| ' ' ||) Copy the Prince of All Cosmos into your sig
. /|_|\ to help him on his way to internet domination!

Some final Stats.

The Full List

1. Mario Mario Vs. Crono (2003)
2. Donkey Kong Vs. Duck Hunt (Sp2004)
3. Sonic the Hedgehog Vs. Samus Aran (2002)
4. Mario Mario Vs. Cloud Strife (2002)
5. Frog Vs. Liquid Snake (2004)
6. Frog Vs. Master Chief (2004)
7. Starcraft Vs. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Sp2004)
8. Kefka Palazzo Vs. Tommy Vercetti (2005)
9. Halo Vs. Starcraft (Sp2004)
10. Donkey Kong Vs. Aya Brea (2002)
11. Squall Leonhart Vs. Luigi Mario (2003)
12. Starcraft Vs. Super Smash Brothers Melee (Sp2004)
13. Chrono Trigger Vs. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Sp2004)
14. Mario Mario Vs. Crono (2002)
15. Donkey Kong Vs. Tommy Vercetti (2003)
16. Ryu Hyubasa Vs. Jill Valentine (2004)
17. Magus Zeal Vs. Knuckles the Echidna (2005)
18. Gordon Freeman Vs. Tina Armstrong (2002)
19. Kuja Vs. Master Hand (Sp2005)
20. Final Fantasy Tactics Vs. Metal Gear Solid (Sp2004)
21. Solid Snake Vs. Tanner (2004)
22. Ganondorf Dragmire Vs. Magus Zeal (2003)
23. Mega Man Vs. Sephiroth (2002)
24. Mega Man Vs. Ms. Pac-Man (2002)
25. Link Vs. Cloud (2003)

Matches By Contest:

2002: 7
2003: 5
Sp2004: 6
2004: 4
Sp2005: 1
2005: 2

Matches By Round*:

1st Round: 9
2nd Round: 6
3rd Round: 4
4th Round: 3
5th Round: 2

Characters/Games Featured:

Mario: 3
Starcraft: 3
Crono: 2
Cloud: 2
Frog: 2
Tommy Vercetti: 2
Donkey Kong: 2
Magus: 2
Mega Man: 2
The Rest: 1

*Excluding Kuja Vs. Master Hand
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

Bump
---
"Heh, heh. The wind. . .it is blowing."--Ganondorf Dragmire

Very nice. Good reads, all of them.

Just one thing, though...

For all intensive purposes, Crono had won the match.

intents and purposes
---
In fact, Jesus is planning on knighting me. -- chaoscell

Good work Yman!

---
the-elite.net congratulates voltch, "Top Ten" Guru Champion!
Ngamer's Contest Archives: http://thengamer.com/gamefaqs/

Now that Yesmar has wrapped this thing up, it's time to let your own opinion be heard... In the 2006 Guru Top Ten Poll!

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=8&topic=25733170

Which are really the best 10 Contest matchups of all time? With your help, we'll get to the bottom of this.

---
the-elite.net congratulates voltch, "Top Ten" Guru Champion!
Ngamer's Contest Archives: http://thengamer.com/gamefaqs/

Great writeups! Just posting a message here to bump it so I have a chance to read more when I have time tomorrow.

Late tag...
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Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play. ~ Kant