The problem is, we don't really know if this is SSBM being weak, or Vice City being strong. It really could be either way, as they're both popular games.

---
The last thing I see in my lifetime is that fixed smile crawling out of the television, as my brain explodes into tiny, sobbing pieces.
-Videogame Recaps

As I said last round, SSBM`s opponents are very strong in this contest. Assuming it gets past Vice City (which will be a struggle, no doubt), FFX`s performance yesterday did not prove to me that it has what it takes to win this division. Come to think of it, the Wind Waker proved nothing to me, either. Forget final vote totals and all this 'Game X would have scored --.--% on Game R' nonsense, and simply look at the vote totals for the past two matches in comparison to Starcraft/Kingdom Hearts and today`s poll come the end of it. The same company polls managed around 65000 votes each, right? I understand that they`re same company polls, but does this cause them to be less popular enough to score a good 10000 less than the aforementioned counterparts? SSBM has a chance, and a damned good one, of winning this division.

And on the flipside, isn`t it crazy to think that Starcraft and SSBM may actually duke it out for the divisonal crown?
---
Married to smitelf on 5/21/04
I would like to take this moment to politely orgasm over Ulti's Halo/Starcraft analysis. -smitelf

SSBM has taken it up a notch, we're at 200 votes ahead. I was afraid the day votes would go to VC, but I guess that wasn't quite right.
---
And yes, the sexual innuendo was intended.
Change scares us, like bright lights and fluffy bunnies. - ChozoSage

You know what really gets me? I was #27 yesterday, now I`m #26. This means that one of 26 people smart enough to be in the top 26 picked FFTA to beat FFX. Wow.

And after talking to smitelf, I noticed something else about the list. It`s including everyone who submitted brackets, even those who can`t actually win any prizes due to not living in the USA. But she noticed that all on her own, so don`t give me any credit or anything.

Lastly, I went spying on Current Events. Annihilator has Metal Gear Solid beating FF7, so he`s done for. We`re all dropping like flies, and I`m very curious how many of us elites picked Vice City to win today`s match. Which it can still do by the way, so I won`t be sleeping too easily today.
---
Married to smitelf on 5/21/04
I would like to take this moment to politely orgasm over Ulti's Halo/Starcraft analysis. -smitelf

Prediction Leaderboard:

1 The Return - 62
1 Saitou7777 - 62
3 SSJGasSnake - 61
3 leet g33k - 61
3 Topdogg48067 - 61
6 willyman76 - 60
6 SlangEdter41 - 60
6 Annihilator - 60
6 Skaigear - 60
6 Raistlin187 - 60
6 insignificant other - 60
6 Dont Tread On ME - 60
6 mattw7186 - 60
6 DarkMagus333 - 60
6 CounterCloud - 60
6 dim mak mofo - 60

Yesterday only 1 person fell off the top 10 for picking FFTA which includes: Lord Magus2002. And today nobody got added to the list since were still above 10 people in our top 10. Yesterday was a very quiet day

---
LUE is a cancer, and if it can't be destroyed, it must be contained. - CjayC
My Score 55/62 SSBM vs. GTA: VC

Hopefully, many of the elites picked Vice City to win.

Speaking of which, remember all the theories about how Vice City being a great PS2 game would cause it to win the match today? Check this out: http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=2000038&topic=14204307
---
Married to smitelf on 5/21/04
I would like to take this moment to politely orgasm over Ulti's Halo/Starcraft analysis. -smitelf

Hopefully, many of the elites picked Vice City to win.


i'd be willing to bet that less than a third (probably 30-33%) of the brackets picked SSBM to win this match against Vice City. remember, 80% of the brackets had Vice City winning it's first match, while only 60% had SSBM winning it's first match. i don't think SSBM has much bracket support at all.

well, it's almost 7 hours in and SSBM has secured an 800 vote lead. normally i wouldn't call a game this close over, but considering SSBM was only up by about 150 an hour and a half ago, i think it's safe to declare SSBM the winner. talk about a strong day vote.


i've also gotta say that Final Fantasy X is almost certainly the Bracket Favorte to win the division. look at how many people had FFX in the Sweet 16 compared to Wind Waker:

46 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Metroid Prime 47.04%

47 Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Final Fantasy X 79.81%


that's a pretty big difference. not that it will affect the final outcome much, though, but it looks to me like FFX will have the most brackets putting in the Final Four for the 128-Bit Division. although, now that i think about, it's very likely that only a few brackets that had Wind Waker in the Sweet 16 have it losing it's next match.

---
Current Score: 55/62 (through FFX vs. FFTA)
cyko's 256 Game Contest: http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=8&topic=14190899

Vice City is probably going the same way as Halo... hugely popular pick by the average bracket maker. I'm counting on this to increase my position a little.

And I'm not convinced SSBM can win this division, for the simple fact that I seriously doubt (read: absolutely can't think) Vice could either.
---
SpC2K4 Status --- Points: 055/062 --- Matches: 41/47 --- Rank: 00971/40940 --- Today's pick: SSBM

Match #47 Review:

Eh...a disappointing performance from FFX. I don't think we should call it weak until it faces SSBM (or even Vice City if it makes a miraculous comeback) next round, though.

Match #49 Preview:

I think this is just a case of people voting for the better game...the original FF isn't all that hot (tons of glitches, unbalanced gameplay), while SMB3 is one of the most beloved games of all time. Make your pick.
---
"Thank you, Mario. But our princess is in another castle."
-Toad in Super Mario Bros.

Well, looks like this will be my last day on the leaderboard :) Vice City is doing better than MGS2 did, though, as I've said it would, so I feel at least partially vindicated. I should hope SSBM has been taken down a notch in people's minds by this match; it's winning by a slim margin against Vice City that FFX would undoubtedly be able to make up for.
---
Married to UltimaterializerX on 5/21/04
Current Sp2K4 Score: 59/62, Next Winner: Vice City

Peeps of GameFAQ's! Do I have your attention?
All of you who dwell here and post away your lives! :) Well it's time for...the newly modernized...

Steve Illumina Speaks

Indeed it is so, the legendary and ever humorous commentary rages on from the soon to be 350 Karma Legend, to offer some lighthearted yet well-honed levity, here on this the stats thread... the one bastion of proven intelligence on this overly fanboy dominated board.

And so it proceeds, with the start of the Sweet 16, Nintendo vs Square: Part I here in the "Ancient" Division

ROUND 3: Match XL (49 for you kiddies out there!)

(1)Super Mario Bros 3 vs (4)Final Fantasy

Steve's Prediction: Mario by 70%
Steve's Bracket: Mario
LUE's Pick: The XXL size Black Mage cape and matching hat.
Upset Chances: While you have a 1:64 chance of meeting WarMech on the Sky Castle bridge, FF's victory chances are measured at 1:1000 as of 9 am today.

Comments: Here to open the Sweet 16 we have the crown prince of Nintendo taking on the game that saved a company.

I am excited. This is where things heat up in these contests. As great as this has been so far with the near upset of FFT over MGS, the surprising rise of StarCraft, the Duck Hunt failed comeback, the turd we all know as Kingdom Hearts, the laughable blowout of Adventure. Yep its been quite spirited, and to think many peeps, including some Elites, thought a game contest idea last year would be a flop...a failure...a forlorn idea.

The Ancient division has 4 worthy games in it. All were big sellers, all have historical significance, all spawned sequels or were sequels themselves. Some would argue for Alex Kidd, Karnov, Asteroids and Leisure Suit Larry for their final 4 in this division. But sorry to say, they just dont compare.

Historical Insights: Mario 3 was the first video game to be a true commercial boom. It spawned long lines at stores, overinflated pricing, shortages for a short time, and more, all driven by the brilliant marketing idea called The Wizard.

Fanboys love FF, but do they know why it was named Final Fantasy? 98% do not, so let the Light of Illumina enlighten you. Squaresoft in those days was a fledgling software programmer for Nintendo of Japan LLC, and its big budget title, Rad Racer, underperformed. So Hironubi, the CEO, came up with an idea. It was to pour all its resources into one last game. This game was named Final Fantasy.

In the end, the King shall ride on, his trusty steed beneath him, to an epic showdown between the 2 truly greatest games ever released on the NES...

Why Mario Will Prevail: Voting blocks: Nintendites! Mario fans! Old schoolers! Oh my!

Why FF Wont Prevail: Mario 3 is the better game on all counts. Sorry FF, but even some of your fanboys will desert you here, since after all you aint FF7 and they figure if an FF has to lose this round, may as well be the weakest one left.

Take a moment to remember...How annoying Pipe Land was even with a Hammer Bros suit...The number tiles game on the seas...FF and gaming as a whole's 1st true minigame!

Probable Results: Thwomp! The King of Platformers will take out Matoya and her kickbutt theme music with a 70-30 split, surprising many by the margin, but proving not all gamers aint always totally blinded by the fanboyism they live by.

Random FF Quotes: "I'm a farmer." -Melmond farmer, "You have legs!" -Ornac Former Mermaid, "I, Garland, shall knock you all down!" -Garland, "TRANSPORTER OPERATION REQUIRES A CUBE" -Robot in Mirage Tower, "All living things were born to die...No one can defeat me, The Vampire!" -Wimpy Vampire MiniBoss, Earth Cave
---
SCK24: 54/62 Trivia XIII: Diehards Forever
Steve Illumina: Standing tall against fanboys for over 20 years

w00t, I'm on the leaderboard! After being one of the unlucky 9 with a score of 57/60 to not appear on the leaderboard, two people above me apparently picked FFTA to beat FFX, letting me move into 49th place.
---
Contest status: 59/62 points through Final Fantasy Tactics Advance vs. Final Fantasy X.

Um... Steve? 49 is XLIX...

I'm gonna get started on Round 2 Winners and Losers right away, in other news.
---
SpC2K4 Status --- Points: 055/062 --- Matches: 41/47 --- Rank: 00971/40940 --- Today's pick: SSBM

Sig acceptable, smitelf? Let me know whatever you want it to be :)

Obviously, I was highly incorrect about Vice City. I am truly surprised, even though I have made my expectations ranges for this contest very wide, as I never expected it to be stronger than MGS2. Might fall out of the Oracle Top 10 because of this :(
---
smitelf is a far better forecaster of this contest than I could ever hope to be.
I am in awe of her PWNage.

Oh, and even though SSBM is way underperforming my epxectations, I still think it has a shot against Final Fantasy X. Even though I expect Final Fantasy X to win, SSBM should at least put up a good showing, and it wouldn't be a huge shock for it to win.
---
smitelf is a far better forecaster of this contest than I could ever hope to be.
I am in awe of her PWNage.

*** ROUND 2 WINNERS AND LOSERS ***

WINNERS

Star of the Round - Final Fantasy Tactics: Monster props for a huge underdog keeping on fighting until the very last final second. This round was all about SMW/Sonic 2, Starcraft/KH, and VC/SSBM, but these three wound up not being that exciting, except for the opening hours of the last two... instead it's FFT that comes out of nowhere and nearly pulls off an upset the likes of Squall's. Anyone that stayed up all the way to the end like I did knew just how orgasmic it was. Four hours of countless lead changes... shame it failed to beat Sonic/Samus for four measly votes. So what does that tell us? Most likely, that FFT is much closer to the numbered FFs than we could think. Muchos gracias for giving a little life to this blowout-infested round 2.

Super Mario Bros. 3: After shooting out of the gate at tremendous speed, SMB3 gained huge momentum by totally destroying Metroid... I remind you that said Metroid totally blew away expectations in the first round. Now it looks like one of the only hurdles left to stop an all-Zelda Final 4 from happening.

Legend of Zelda: It made Donkey Kong look completely pathetic. The fact that it gets harder to scrape off points as the score goes up makes this blowout all the more impressive. Of course, you can blame SFF - I think Duck Hunt would've fared much better - but give Zelda credit... save for Wind Waker (but that's another story entirely), the Nintendo fans are totally behind it.

Tetris: After defeating Galaga in a "meh" fashion, Tetris opened the eyes of many by annihilating Pong, another game that posted very good numbers in the first round. Is it going to beat LoZ? Hell no. But the chances of it going down with a bang look pretty good.

Chrono Trigger: In the first sentence of Tetris' entry, replace Galaga with Secret of Mana, Tetris with CT and Pong with SMRPG. That's pretty much it.

Super Mario World: Wasn't thought to be much of a threat to CT before the contest, but ANY game that can score 70% against Sonic's only representative (and it was a very decent one, though by no means the best) deserves consideration. And considering SMW's next opponent, all things are possible.

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: Link couldn't pick up SFF votes on Samus last year, so surely his second strongest entry couldn't do so to Samus' best, right? WRONG! Talk about a fanbase being behind its favorite. CT may have been very good, but this was just... ugh... tripling Super Metroid, even with SFF, is a feat only the crème de la crème could do. LttP is looking for a finals appearance here... its huge victory over Gunstar Heroes was no fluke.

Final Fantasy 7: It did quite good... only history will tell if there was SFF in there somewhere or not. If there was... then FF7 looks in serious trouble against OoT, that got SFF votes left and right against Super Mario 64 of all games. And I'd expect SM64 to be much less SFF-able than Xenogears, though that can easily be debated.

Goldeneye: Looks like it won the war against Perfect Dark. And big time at that... I didn't expect Goldeneye to get 60% on SotN, honestly.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Well... I kinda said it in the FF7 entry. SM64 is no weakling, and it got freaking TRIPLED. That gotta hurt.

Starcraft: Sure, I hate how the SC bubble is growing bigger and bigger as the first sign of true competition approaches. But I gotta give Starcraft its props... many otherwise very good brackets have been totally shot there. Less people had it getting out of the fight against Halo than those who had Magus going to the Sweet 16 last year. Beating the king of X-Box and a Square RPG looks great on a résumé, no matter how weak they were, especially given how this site is oriented towards consoles. Starcraft IS coming back next year, and with a much better seed. BOOK IT!

Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: Screw it letting Metroid Prime come close, all that matters in this division is getting out of it alive, no matter how badly FF7/OoT beats the winner afterwards. And it proved it definitely can do it.

Metroid Prime: It probably took advantage of the fact that WW is nowhere near the other three to avoid being SFFed straight to hell, but its performance shows that it is a very solid competitor, something that could've been doubted after a closer-than-expected match with Half-Life and the annihilation of the other Metroids by SMB3 and LttP.

Half-Life: Didn't take part in round 2, however Prime doing good against Wind Waker, a potential division winner, redeems it a lot (extrapolated rankings have it taking 39% on Wind Waker). Another game that's coming back with a better seed next year... could it be the end of GFNW?

Super Smash Bros. Melee: It's doing quite good for such a hyped match. Guess it goes to show that MGS2 is indeed a powerful opponent - in a balanced bracket, it would probably deserve a single-digit seed. And combined with the bombing of FF10, the window's open for an Elite 8 appearance now.

LOSERS

Turd of the Round - Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Sonic's second most popular against Mario's second most popular. In character battles Sonic and Mario aren't separated by much... then what in the hell happened here?!? Looks like Sega made Sonic a legend at the expense of the games he starred in or something. I could see that being true... after all, "Super Mario Bros. 3" and "Super Mario World" are more household than the name of any Sonic game. That could be the subject of interesting debates in the future.

Pong: Its blowout on RCR, combined with a so-so win of Tetris over Galaga, made me and some others think Pong/Tetris could be good. We weren't going to get a repeat of what happened at GameSpy... MEEP! Pong only got five more points here, 74-26 instead of 79-21. To Pong's credit, it was one half of the BEST. PIC. EVER.

Super Mario RPG: Turns out more people had SF2 in this match in the first place. And that's not the end... SMRPG looked so bad, it got the kind of score that I would have expected from SF2...

Street Fighter 2: ... which is why I'm putting in in the losers' section too.

Shining Force: Combine a string of two huge blowouts, and Shining Force is getting thrashed 69-31 by the Simpsons in the extrapolated rankings.

Metal Gear Solid: It's only natural that the winner of a surprisingly close match goes here. Because the match being so close may not be indicative of FFT's power, but maybe of MGS' weakness compared to Snake as well. After all, I hear a lot of praise for the character Snake... but not nearly as much for his games. Perhaps a lesser version of what happened to Sonic - once again, it's up for debate.

Final Fantasy 10: FFTA is seen by many as peeing on FFT's legacy. Then how, HOW, can FF10 fail to double it, especially since Tidus is so strong in character battles? It's going to be an uphill battle for it to get out of the division, with SSBM's strong showing today and WW keeping on doing the job.

Metroid, Donkey Kong, Super Metroid, Super Mario 64: You can guess the reason, right?

Pac-Man, Duck Hunt, Phantasy Star 4, NiGHTS Into Dreams: Once again, duh. Extrapolated rankings put them below Metal Gear, Gunstar Heroes and Fallout 2 - Duck Hunt is spared of further humiliation, thankfully.

'Tis a fine sig, creativename :)
---
Married to UltimaterializerX on 5/21/04
Current Sp2K4 Score: 59/62, Next Winner: Vice City

Well, the current results lead me to believe that the top four in division 128 are arranged like this:

Zelda: WW > FFX > Starcraft > SSBM

Zelda's performance against Metroid Prime really didn't indicate any weakness, because I think everyone will agree that MP was one of the top games in the division.

FFX's results yesterday were somewhat lackluster, only doubling FFTA in %, but strong enough to be able to match Wind Waker, more or less.

Starcraft's strength is completely unknown, but based on its beaten competition (Halo, KH) I'd say it's more than a match for SSBM, which is barely winning right now.
---
Current Score: 58/62 Tied for 161st
Today's Pick: SSBM over GTA:VC

Slow, you are such a Zelda fanboy. How could you call Wind Waker a winner? It was expected to do much better agaist Metroid Prime after what its predecessor managed to do to Super Metroid. If anything, it showed what a weak Link it is in the Zelda franchise.

And how is Metroid Prime a winner, pray tell? Even after Super Metroid’s defeat, there was a camp that still believed it capable of beating Wind Waker. It didn’t. The match wasn’t even appreciatively exciting. Neither game came out of that match looking spectacular; it just showed that Wind Waker was weak and Prime, despite being considered to be superior by many, still couldn't take it down.

SSBM, too? Dear God, maybe I should just call you a Nintendo fanboy. This is the sort of analysis I’d expect from Heroic Mario. You’re insane if you think this performance from SSBM should be anything but disappointing for its supporters. FFX would be dismantling Vice City right now. This only increases my belief that the only challenge to FFX will come from the top half of the bracket.

I find your FFVII review on the positive side hilarious (was that supposed to be positive, Slow?). It’s as if it pains you to admit that anything that might be competition to your precious Zelda did well.
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Married to UltimaterializerX on 5/21/04
Current Sp2K4 Score: 59/62, Next Winner: Vice City

Smash Bros Melee has been a goat so far, hardly a star. Vice City is NOT a stiff challenge, me thinks even Kingdom Hearts would have beaten it. Does 48 hour poll ring a bell? Wait, what am I saying, StarCraft could be stronger than Smash Bros? You bet! Otherwise, I agree with rest of your stars/losers.
---
23-17 1st Place NL East
Next up: SD

Slow, you are such a Zelda fanboy

Ouch...
---
SCK24: 54/62 Trivia XIII: Diehards Forever
Steve Illumina: Standing tall against fanboys for over 20 years

Hehe, WW proved well enough to me that it can get out of this division alive. I don't care if it gets 18% or 40% against the winner of OoT/FF7, as long as it makes it.

LOL at my FF7 review. I've seen such a mistake before. Its head looks like it could fall, true, but in the meantime, it gets the job done in terms of getting in OoT's way. I totally failed at getting that point across. No S-rank for me.

And of course, Starcraft > SSBM sounds like a sick joke thought up by a Blizzard rep.
---
SpC2K4 Status --- Points: 055/062 --- Matches: 41/47 --- Rank: 00971/40940 --- Today's pick: SSBM

Wait, SSBM is disappointing? I think not. GTA:VC is one tough cookie, I say. Halo showed it was strong, so I'd expect SW:KotOR to be strong enough as well. I Wouldn't be surprised if KoTOR could defeat FFTA in a one-on-one match. If SSBM can get over 55% by the end, I'd say it might be more likely to reach the divisional finals than FFX...

Looking ahead at SMB3 vs. Final Fantasy, I don't think it's going to be close at all. Of course, FF's picture is MUCH cooler-looking than last round, so I can use that to blame FF if it gets close to winning. =P (Since many FF fans haven't even played the first game, a good picture might actually sway more votes)


---
"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."

*** COMPARISONS GAME - Match #49 - (1) SUPER MARIO BROS. 3 vs. (4) FINAL FANTASY ***

Sales

Talking about SMB3's sales numbers is getting about as repetitive and redundant as a Triple H promo. Can we go to something else PLEASE?

- Advantage SMB3.

Franchises

Mario would rank third in terms of franchise power here. Unfortunately for SMB3, FF is one of the two ahead.

- Advantage FF1.

GameFAQs Status

Number of FAQs: FF1
Number of reviews: SMB3
Average review score: SMB3
Board activity: FF1

Hmmm... what to do, what to do? Well, the only area where the difference is really big is the review score (SMB3 is second to NiGHTS in the tournament, remember...), so SMB3 it is.

- Advantage SMB3.

Board Odds Project

PICKS (out of 102)
Super Mario Bros. 3 - 97
Final Fantasy - 5

POINT VALUE
4. Super Mario Bros. 3 - 2054
13. Final Fantasy - 331

Well... practically everyone had this match happening, and very few thought there would be an upset. Since this half of the division is all going according to plan so far, the upset chances DO look that grim.

- Advantage SMB3.

Previous Rounds

SMB3 is on a rampage since the tournament got started. Metal Gear and Metroid never had a chance, and the latter looked particularly bad - the reasons are well documented by now. FF1 completely whupped Pitfall, but then followed with a slightly underwhelming 70% against Contra. And against a powerhouse like SMB3, that's a no-no.

- Advantage SMB3.

Summer Contests / Polls of the Day

SMB3 is the favorite Mario, that's well known. FF1 finishes, get this, dead last in favorite FF polls. Sure, it may pick up some votes from those who prefer the other FFs as well, but once again it's a no-no.

- Advantage SMB3.

Intangibles

Division 8 looks like the only place where Mario can transcend the Summer Contest balance and beat FF1 and Zelda (the problem being that the latter has quite a lot of awareness). Yes, SMB3 is THAT good.

Match pic... personally, I wonder why anyone who hasn't played FF1 or read 8BT would go WHOAMG at the pic. As far as these people go, Mario being featured very prominently in the picture, and in his highly-worshipped raccoon form at that, may actually help him. Not that there are that many pic voters anyway, but eh, every vote counts.

- Advantage SMB3.

Conclusion: Yes, every vote counts. And SMB3 will need a lot of them if it hopes to compete against LoZ. It's its last match before the much-anticipated showdown, and it NEEDS to look good going there.
---
SpC2K4 Status --- Points: 055/062 --- Matches: 41/47 --- Rank: 00971/40940 --- Today's pick: SSBM

A small intro... I've been offline a few days, my main rant deserves a seperate post.

Smitelf, I voted for Tactics advance and I wasn't smoking anything. FFX isn't a good game, and I WILL hold its worse sequel against it. And on top of that, would it be more fair to have Link for the SSBM pic? That would be biased. Showing Mario is the only fair way to do it.

Creativename:
"inflated, à la Sephiroth against Link?

Oh no, not this again :)

Please, stop stating like this is fact, because the evidence is marginal. It may be enough to convince you, but you shouldn't throw this around like it's definitely true. People will be inclined to believe you :)"

'bout time someone else stood up against this unproven nonsense.
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ChichiriMuyo is officially the Discussion Guru Encyclopedia - UltimaterializerX
And I'm 23/24 myself. My loss was all part of Alucard's plan. - BigCow

Alrighty guys. So what did the encycopedia tell you? Hmm? Didn't I tell you that Prime was going to perform the best out of the Metroid games? Hmm? Oh, but you people didn't believe me. Nom you thought I was crazy because some potd said that Super Metroid was stronger and "other reasons". I told you, 40% of gamefaqs wasn't old enough to have played SM when it was new, and that said fat woudl hurt it massively. Did you believe me? No, of course not. I said Most of Samus' summer strength is from Prime. Well look. Look DAMMIT! Prime vs. WW is closer to Samus vs. Link than SM vs. LttP, now isn't it? Guess what, GotY or not 'celda' is still hated by plenty, and it certainly the weakest Zelda in the contest. Prime didn't win, and for those who hoped it would it sucks, but anyone who says it isn't a winner is a fool. It did what its predecessors couldn't, it performed up to expectations. I told you all it was the only one that could.

And you know what else I told you? To not fear for Melee. Look at Melee, it's pic is Mario... and it's performing like Mario! Except... unlike Morrigan and company Melee's opponents aren't weak. I told you people, "you're just underestimating the greatness of MGS2". Did you listen? No. Why? Obviously you were, meaning I was correct on this one. Heck, VC is only doing slightly better... and some people actually thought VC could beat Melee?! Tommy could barely beat DK and there is a lot more to Melee than the old ape. Oh ye of little faith! The wins aren't impressive until you realize that a lot of people think VC is good enough to easily chump FFX's ass. Sure, maybe not enough to actually give VC the win, but we haven't yet proven that impossible. Do look at how X did against TA. FFTA is by far the most insulted FF ever, outside of X-2. If you can't beat another game holding up the same name by a better margin than that when your opoonent is that badly hated then you SUCK. If we only had 2k2 numbers (and we still believed summer numbers meant something) to go by I'd tell you right now FFX can't beat Melee. Mario beat Cloud, and FFX isn't but half the strength of FF7 while Melee is obviously stronger than Mario himself (or at least it seems so).

So I told you people these two things:
1 You underestimated both MGS2 and Melee
2 Prime is the strongest Metroid in this contest.

Now what say you?
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ChichiriMuyo is officially the Discussion Guru Encyclopedia - UltimaterializerX
And I'm 23/24 myself. My loss was all part of Alucard's plan. - BigCow

To make things nice and easy: No game in the 128 division has any more of a chance to win then any other. And yes, I'm placing Wind Waker/Starcraft at 50/50. SSBM has not shown true power, FFX has apparently underperformed greatly, Wind Waker is the red-headed bastard child of the Zelda series, and Starcraft is just here to flip off these new kids on the block.

To make things nice and easy: No game in the 128 division has any more of a chance to win then any other.

Yeah, and most people were saying that in the beginning too, I just can't for the life of me understand why some people forgot the fact that 128 is always in the air. Oh wait, it's because Donkey Kong and Super Metroid (might I remind you, I told you so) were beaten badly by Zelda games. Let me reapeat that: DONKEY KONG and Super Metroid were beaten badly. Now, I wonder... since when has Donkey Kong or anything else about as weak as Donkey Kong meant anything?
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ChichiriMuyo is officially the Discussion Guru Encyclopedia - UltimaterializerX
And I'm 23/24 myself. My loss was all part of Alucard's plan. - BigCow

To make things nice and easy: No game in the 128 division has any more of a chance to win then any other. And yes, I'm placing Wind Waker/Starcraft at 50/50. SSBM has not shown true power, FFX has apparently underperformed greatly, Wind Waker is the red-headed bastard child of the Zelda series, and Starcraft is just here to flip off these new kids on the block.

I'd have to agree with you here - we might as well flip three coins top decide this division with how un-impressive any of these games have been.
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SP2k4C : Winner - Chrono Trigger

Didn't I tell you that Prime was going to perform the best out of the Metroid games?

This was expected.

Nom you thought I was crazy because some potd said that Super Metroid was stronger and "other reasons". I told you, 40% of gamefaqs wasn't old enough to have played SM when it was new, and that said fat woudl hurt it massively. Did you believe me? No, of course not

Yes, of course not. Since it still makes sense that Super Metroid and Prime are roughly equal, with SM still perhaps being stronger. It would be strange to say otherwise.

I said Most of Samus' summer strength is from Prime.

!?!? This makes NO sense at all, since Samus' performance only got weaker from 2K2 to 2K3.

Prime vs. WW is closer to Samus vs. Link than SM vs. LttP, now isn't it?

A Link to the Past is much stronger than Wind Waker, and the hypothesis that SFF plays a larger role between older games has (inconclusive) evidence going for it.

1 You underestimated both MGS2 and Melee

SSBM is slightly underperforming consensus expectations against Vice City, so how could it look stronger than it did before?

2 Prime is the strongest Metroid in this contest.

It'll probably come out significantly higher in the standings, but this is very questionable. One could certainly see Super Metroid being stronger, and being able to defeat MP in a one-on-one contest poll.
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smitelf is a far better forecaster of this contest than I could ever hope to be.
I am in awe of her PWNage.

I`ll go with Slow in the prediction that Wind Waker is going to come out of this division.
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Nintendo® - We Make Games Worth Playing
You are doing well, lad. But can you break through this secret technique of Darkness?

To make things nice and easy: No game in the 128 division has any more of a chance to win then any other. And yes, I'm placing Wind Waker/Starcraft at 50/50.

I would like someone, anyone to tell me right now what in the world even points to StarCraft having that kind of shot at Wind Waker? I cannot for the life of me figure out why people even think StarCraft is going to get closer than Metroid Prime did.

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Nintendo® - We Make Games Worth Playing
You are doing well, lad. But can you break through this secret technique of Darkness?

My reason is that Starcraft is one of the best games in this contest. Whether or not the voters will realize this remains to be seen, but I have strong confidence in an upset.

LordOfDabu
A legend beyond all ages.

I cannot for the life of me figure out why people even think StarCraft is going to get closer than Metroid Prime did.

Same here...except that this would be due in large part to the perception (which I also hold) that MP > Halo. But since our perception that KH > Halo easily was false, this could be too. This division is full of surprising relationships between games.

I wouldn't discount Starcraft completely, but I wouldn't expect it to do better than Metroid Prime.
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smitelf is a far better forecaster of this contest than I could ever hope to be.
I am in awe of her PWNage.

I would like someone, anyone to tell me right now what in the world even points to StarCraft having that kind of shot at Wind Waker? I cannot for the life of me figure out why people even think StarCraft is going to get closer than Metroid Prime did.

Metroid Prime did 55/45 on Half-Life. Wind Waker did 55/45 on Metroid Prime. I would easily rank Starcraft ahead of Half-Life for the purposes of this contest, considering the fanatical nature of the fans, as well as because of the sheer scope of battle.net, perhaps enough to usurp WW. The fact still remains we are completly unclear as to how strong SC is, or how weak WW is, and I give SC a legitimiate shot at WW because of those reasons.

Metroid Prime did 55/45 on Half-Life. Wind Waker did 55/45 on Metroid Prime. I would easily rank Starcraft ahead of Half-Life for the purposes of this contest, considering the fanatical nature of the fans, as well as because of the sheer scope of battle.net,

I would rank StarCraft ahead of Half-Life as well, but definitely not by much. And battle.NET is a poor excuse for why it will get close to Wind Waker, if battle.NET barely got SC by Halo what makes you think it`ll push it close to Wind Waker, much less overcome it.

perhaps enough to usurp WW. The fact still remains we are completly unclear as to how strong SC is, or how weak WW is, and I give SC a legitimiate shot at WW because of those reasons.

I still believe its shot at Wind Waker is small, from what I`ve heard from people they seem to focus on "battle.NET will be spammed," and its not the best of reasons to believe that it`ll push SC over WW. The reasoning here was just that you believe SC is easily over Half-Life, while I doubt it could beat Half-Life but by a few percentage points. And if Metroid Prime is greater than Halo, which I`d be hard pressed to believe is otherwise, it just further pushes SC away from its chances.
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Nintendo® - We Make Games Worth Playing
You are doing well, lad. But can you break through this secret technique of Darkness?

And of course, Starcraft > SSBM sounds like a sick joke thought up by a Blizzard rep.

Don’t make me break out the song again…I’m warning you…

Wait, SSBM is disappointing? I think not. GTA:VC is one tough cookie, I say.

I agree…for SSBM. But for FFX? Even with its track record thus far being less than stellar, I can’t see it struggling like this against Vice City. This match spells doom for SSBM, as far as I’m concerned. At this point, it would shock me to see SSBM come out above FFX. Nothing else would, though.

Smitelf, I voted for Tactics advance and I wasn't smoking anything.

Okay, then what medication were you taking?

blah blah blah (in the way only Chichiri can say it)

Now what say you?

What I’ve always said: Vice City was underestimated, the percentage shows that I wasn’t insane in thinking it could put up a fight against SSBM, and that SSBM will lose in the next round.
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Married to UltimaterializerX on 5/21/04
Current Sp2K4 Score: 59/62, Next Winner: Vice City

Yeah Smitelf, but some crazy people were saying that VC was going to BEAT SSBM after its performance agaisnt MGS2. That was never a possibility, and I'm just pointing out to the people who jump all over this stuff that has no meaning that they were incorrect in thinking that way.

And no, creativename, SSBM isn't necissarily underperforming considering that many people were certain it would lose after "underperforming" against MGS2. Also, what the hell are you talking about when you say Samus performed worse in 2k3? She's obviously shown that Sonic would no longer give her the trouble he did in 2k2, and she was performing against Link. Link had a new game, not the best of new games, but ALL new games boost their characters in some way unless it's DMC2. WW has proven to be more important than Prime, so the boost for Link is bigger. SOME people keep saying that Seph overperformed agaisnt Link, but it's just as likely or even more so that Link just got stronger. Considering the character that were in his division it can't be disproven really as he performed better than expected agaisnt some, others we know got boosts as well between 2k2 and 2k3, and the rest are new. Really, there isn't anything to say that Link didn't get a boost, alls tooois that Cloud got a massive one. It's simply illogical to believe that Prime hurt Samus AND that WW did nothing for Link while some characters can have a minor appearance and jump 15-20 points. It doesn't make sense, and I simply wont buy it, so don't try to sell me that bull****
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ChichiriMuyo is officially the Discussion Guru Encyclopedia - UltimaterializerX
And I'm 23/24 myself. My loss was all part of Alucard's plan. - BigCow

"A Link to the Past is much stronger than Wind Waker, and the hypothesis that SFF plays a larger role between older games has (inconclusive) evidence going for it"

Inconclusive? Don't you mean circumstantial?
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ChichiriMuyo is officially the Discussion Guru Encyclopedia - UltimaterializerX
And I'm 23/24 myself. My loss was all part of Alucard's plan. - BigCow

"Didn't I tell you that Prime was going to perform the best out of the Metroid games?

This was expected."

No it wasn't. All of the Metroid games were expected to do about as well as Samus would have agianst her respective Summer competitors Mario and Link. It didn't happen that way. That was what was expected UNTIL the Metroid blowouts. Hardly anyone thought that the Metroid games were going to be beaten so badly, and unless you missed the whole "OMG!!!1!11!!!! Zelda r teh winnar!!1!1!1one!!111" topics you'd realize that to be the case.
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ChichiriMuyo is officially the Discussion Guru Encyclopedia - UltimaterializerX
And I'm 23/24 myself. My loss was all part of Alucard's plan. - BigCow

Same here...except that this would be due in large part to the perception (which I also hold) that MP > Halo.

Ahh... but remember, StarCraft vs. Halo was before the site change. Could the sudden decrease of votes mean a slight shift in the numbers? I believe it could.

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The last thing I see in my lifetime is that fixed smile crawling out of the television, as my brain explodes into tiny, sobbing pieces.
-Videogame Recaps

*spoilers*

"Okay, then what medication were you taking?"

None, I avoid all medications at all costs unless my very well being depends on it. I don't even like to take asprin. I actually FFTA because I'm not ******** and I can judge it on its own merits as opposed to judging it on the merits of its vastly superior predecessor. If FFT didn't exist I may even hold FFTA slightly higher in repect. I'm sorry, but you'd have to be a dumb ass to judge a game solely by its predecessor when its not meant to be anything more than remotely resembling said predecessor. As a whole I dont like FFX. Outside of the superhard bosses it lacks anything enjoyable to me. The characters are uninteresting, the storyline is good but full of cliches, it's not dramatic enough, the music is just plain lacking, the "love story" this time around is pathetic, and the culture is down right boring. I donn care about saving these people, half of them deserve to die for how they think and what their ancestors did. Their curse is their own cultures fault, and their inability to actually solve the problem shows that don't really deserve to be saved. they would rather throw away lives on the sure but merely temporary bet when they should be taking the chance to get right. How lazy and sloppy is that? The only quality I find redeeming in that game is the challenge. And even that is proceeded by a great deal of monotony. FFTA at least gave me interesting gameplay, a couple of somewhat likeable characters, and a story that, while a bit boring, at least differs from the accepted norm (aka cliches) just enough to be somewhat....creative. Not a great game as a whole, but featuring more redeeming qualities than its opponent.
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ChichiriMuyo is officially the Discussion Guru Encyclopedia - UltimaterializerX
And I'm 23/24 myself. My loss was all part of Alucard's plan. - BigCow

I`m going to go through the recent posts and give some responses to some things. Oh, and in the face of everyone who doubted me and my love for SSBM =)

Take a moment to remember...How annoying Pipe Land was even with a Hammer Bros suit

Steve, I would be pregnant with your babies right now if I wasn`t married to like, four different people.
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Married to smitelf on 5/21/04
I would like to take this moment to politely orgasm over Ulti's Halo/Starcraft analysis. -smitelf

Monster props for a huge underdog keeping on fighting until the very last final second

54% of people had MGS in the Sweet 16. everyone else thought that FFT, DDR, or RE would take it down. I wouldn`t exactly call FFT a huge underdog.
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Married to smitelf on 5/21/04
I would like to take this moment to politely orgasm over Ulti's Halo/Starcraft analysis. -smitelf

Slowflake, no offense, but I feel you think things to death too much. And you`re a Zelda fanboy =p

In character battles Sonic and Mario aren't separated by much

According to what, the so-called extrapolated ranking system that I put little stock into? Like I`ve been saying for two years, Mario would have no problems beating Sonic on our site. The numbers from the past can only tell you so much. GTA3 did beat SSBM in a past poll, you know.
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Married to smitelf on 5/21/04
I would like to take this moment to politely orgasm over Ulti's Halo/Starcraft analysis. -smitelf

Final Fantasy 7: It did quite good... only history will tell if there was SFF in there somewhere or not. If there was... then FF7 looks in serious trouble against OoT, that got SFF votes left and right against Super Mario 64 of all games. And I'd expect SM64 to be much less SFF-able than Xenogears, though that can easily be debated.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Well... I kinda said it in the FF7 entry. SM64 is no weakling, and it got freaking TRIPLED. That gotta hurt.

Both matches featured severe SFF, yet FF7 is in trouble?

*sounds Zelda Fanboy Alarm*
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Married to smitelf on 5/21/04
I would like to take this moment to politely orgasm over Ulti's Halo/Starcraft analysis. -smitelf

Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: Screw it letting Metroid Prime come close, all that matters in this division is getting out of it alive, no matter how badly FF7/OoT beats the winner afterwards. And it proved it definitely can do it.

Wind Waker has proven that it can make it out of the division? I severely doubt that. The four games left in this divison, in my opinion, all have an equal chance of winning it.

Super Smash Bros. Melee: It's doing quite good for such a hyped match. Guess it goes to show that MGS2 is indeed a powerful opponent

I`m assuming that statement as a subliminal 'Ulti, you were right all along'.
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Married to smitelf on 5/21/04
I would like to take this moment to politely orgasm over Ulti's Halo/Starcraft analysis. -smitelf

Metal Gear Solid: It's only natural that the winner of a surprisingly close match goes here. Because the match being so close may not be indicative of FFT's power, but maybe of MGS' weakness compared to Snake as well. After all, I hear a lot of praise for the character Snake... but not nearly as much for his games. Perhaps a lesser version of what happened to Sonic - once again, it's up for debate.

You put this in the Loser of the Round section even though it defeated a Squaresoft Final Fantasy title? And an amazing one, at that.

And you mention little praise for Snake`s games. Someone hasn`t been listening to a word spoken by MWIS and myself in the past few months.
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Married to smitelf on 5/21/04
I would like to take this moment to politely orgasm over Ulti's Halo/Starcraft analysis. -smitelf

Pac-Man, Duck Hunt, Phantasy Star 4, NiGHTS Into Dreams: Once again, duh. Extrapolated rankings put them below Metal Gear, Gunstar Heroes and Fallout 2 - Duck Hunt is spared of further humiliation, thankfully.

Yet another example of why common sense > those rankings. I highly doubt that Metal Gear or Gunstar Heroes would take down Pac Man or Duck Hunt.
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Married to smitelf on 5/21/04
I would like to take this moment to politely orgasm over Ulti's Halo/Starcraft analysis. -smitelf