Popularity Contests between Fictional Characters
In an effort to stem the flood of email, I'm mentioning the GameFAQS Character Battle IV - today, they're asking you to vote for Master Chief vs CATS, from All Your Base. Later on, the winner will be up against a number of other competitors; I really, really doubt we'll mention this again, so if you're interested in the Character Battle, KEEP TRACK OF IT. Folks who send us email about future matchups (assuming MC wins today, which seems likely) will be sent a link to this news post. Thanks. (Louis Wu 18:39:50 UTC)

XD
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For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to refer to Gordon Freeman versus Tanner as Schrodinger's Match. -Phoenix Flattener

Why Gordon Freeman will beat Leon Kennedy:

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/detail.php?board=8&topic=22641004&message=246255047
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The King of all Cosmos' route to summer victory:
Round 1: (4) Tidus... LET ME DREAM :

Because someone rated Midboss a 10/10? o_O;
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Graduation: April 30, 2005 "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

>_>
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The King of all Cosmos' route to summer victory:
Round 1: (4) Tidus... LET ME DREAM :

Seems like MC has dropped to his 2k3 value (even with CATS at his spring value.) could it be that since everyone has hyping for Halo 2 he got a boost and then once the game came out MC went down.

Nah if Master Chief breaks 70% (or gets more) then that will put him close enough (margin of error you know) to his unadjusted 2k4 value (or extremly close on his 2k3 value)
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I've been Pwned by KoaC. He really is the king of all cosmos.

I am just stunned that MC still hasn't broken 70 yet <_<
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WWEGSB Hardcore Legend Masa
"Masa, everytime I talk to you, my urge for hot pockets rises. Damn you" - Linky.

Is it unexpected? Board 8 has a HUGE following for CATS. He did particularly well against Ansem this year, and Halo isn't exactly the most popular game at this site. Expect him to do much better on his next match for sure.
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You are entitled to your own opinion...
...It's wrong, but you can have it

You know, 2004 Sam Fisher is just below CATS Spring Contest value. If we assume that CATS stayed constant since the Spring Contest and that Fisher stayed constant since last year, DK needs to get around 70% for there to be an upset possibility.

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Mario's Path to Victory: Round 2 - (4) Ness

MC isn't a particularly strong character.

*still remembers the 52ish-47ish match against Felix*

And that was when Halo hype was at its highest.

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"Being a Hunter has to be the best job in the world! Well, next to pimp..."

Hmmmm.... This might just show that Master Chief isn't as popular with the casuals as one would think. He may have a lot of fans, as his match against Frog showed. But this match may be showing that there are a lot of people that simply wouldn't vote for MC, even if he is up against a much weaker character. Of course this goes against everything that the X-Stats stand for... But it could very well be a possibility.
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Graduation: April 30, 2005 "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

Seems like CATS has been hovering around 31.4% for a bit now.

He honestly had exceeded my expectrations by 2x. I expected 15% even with the cool head picture. :P
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Vote every day in the NCAA Character Battle 2005 contest!

From: armitage999 | Posted: 8/4/2005 11:23:43 PM | #311
Seems like CATS has been hovering around 31.4% for a bit now.

He honestly had exceeded my expectrations by 2x. I expected 15% even with the cool head picture. :P

CATS wouldn't have done THAT badly, but I didn't expect a clear avoidance of the tripling...

Hmmmm.... This might just show that Master Chief isn't as popular with the casuals as one would think

Especially given that Halo 2 has been out since his last outing.
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Jon Thomson - MARIO, Samus, SOLID SNAKE, Bowser, CRONO, Squall, Sonic, MEGA MAN

Man, remember when Magus Vs. MC was supposed to be a "close match" this year.
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"Heh Heh... The wind... It is blowing..."--Ganondorf Dragmire

I know we all have to kill both time and space with all of our first round musings, but, let's wait more than one match before absolutely deciding Master Chief is no longer a match for Magus but will fall to Donkey Kong.
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Revenge is a dish best served cold. ~Old Klingon Proverb

Man, remember when Magus Vs. MC was supposed to be a "close match" this year.

I don't even remember when Magus Vs. MC was suppose to be a PROBABLE match this year...
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"Opinions are like butts, little girl. Everyone's got one and nobody thinks their's stink." -Lunar 2:EB
*Claims KG's Eclair & Millia Rage*

let's wait more than one match before absolutely deciding Master Chief is no longer a match for Magus but will fall to Donkey Kong.

I really don't see how you could say he'd even give Magus a close match after this egg. No matter which CATS you use, he's underperforming.
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

I don't even remember when Magus Vs. MC was suppose to be a PROBABLE match this year

It was discussed a lot about 6 months back.
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SpC2K5 First Vote Champion
Current Score: 15/16 | Today: Master Chief over Cats =(

Oh, you mean overall...I thought you meant in this contest...
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"Opinions are like butts, little girl. Everyone's got one and nobody thinks their's stink." -Lunar 2:EB
*Claims KG's Eclair & Millia Rage*

I would of taken Magus over MC however he (and Gannon) would of been probably the cut off point. Zero or Squall or Zelda or maybe even Auron, I would have lose to MC. Lucky those didnt happen.
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Leon's Quest For Ultimate Glory:
1. Tripling Gordon Freeman.

I still think Master Chief could beat Magus. Why? Well you'll see when he fails to break 54% on Knuckles!
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Raiden fact of the contest: Alucard is a plagiarist, this year Raiden will prove it!

Uhhhh... Yuna who didnt increased would of been very close to Knuckles 2k4 adjusted by Fake SFF. Are you trying to tell me that Gannondorf can hit 61% on a character that probably increased more than he did from 2003 to 2005 and Magus cant hit 54 on Knuckles?
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Leon's Quest For Ultimate Glory:
1. Tripling Gordon Freeman.

I meant unadjusted by Fake SFF.
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Leon's Quest For Ultimate Glory:
1. Tripling Gordon Freeman.

So, anyways: Mod Applications are open now. Anyone here going to apply? I already have.

To stay on-topic: I am amazed that CATS is keeping MC below 70%. Guess I overestimated the Halo 2 boost.
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Today's subliminal thought is:

Despite my ineligibility on 4 counts, I applied. With a serious application.
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"All pretty girls are a trap, a pretty trap, and men expect them to be."
MasterMage119

Indeed.

If we assume Yuna to be constant, Ganondorf's X-Stat value is 27.38, which is about as reasonable as putting Yuna at 28 or whatever she gets put up to. (It's a little of both though, I'm thinking)

Meanwhile, we have Tidus, who's showing signs of being much weaker than the 2003 triad has him at.

Then there's Sam Fisher. An interesting tidbit about him. If we use Tidus's 2k4 value for Magus in his match with Fisher, Fisher 2k3 lines up just about perfectly with 2k4. Coincidence? I think not.

Random claims make the stats topic go round, anyway.
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Raiden fact of the contest: Alucard is a plagiarist, this year Raiden will prove it!

If you really think Dorf is that weak you are out of your mind. He did better than Bowser in the Spring and both had the same reason to overperform. Also if you think a new game which sold pretty well that Yuna was the MAIN CHARACTER in doesnt increase her at all, you are also out of your mind.

Sam Fisher's drop is a combination of A) An actual drop by Fisher, B) Samus being an absolute beast for those first two matches.
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Leon's Quest For Ultimate Glory:
1. Tripling Gordon Freeman.

Also that Dorf values has Alucard dropping about 5 percent despite a distinct possibility of him being SFFd in 2003 to some degree.
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Leon's Quest For Ultimate Glory:
1. Tripling Gordon Freeman.

It's that damn plan that shoots me down every time.

Anyway, I'm not saying Ganondorf should be at a constant Yuna, but Yuna jumping 4% from FFX-2 does seem unreasonable to me. I don't care if she was the star or not, I just can't see that game winning her that many more votes.
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Raiden fact of the contest: Alucard is a plagiarist, this year Raiden will prove it!

Especially considering FFX-2 got a mixed reception at best from FF fans.
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Today's subliminal thought is:

Oh yeah last fact.

If Tidus dropped, then Shadow overperformed by Mario by almost the same exact amount as Magus overperformed on Link. I dont buy it.

FFVIII got a mixed reception from FF fans, Squall is still a high-midcarder.
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Leon's Quest For Ultimate Glory:
1. Tripling Gordon Freeman.

From: SonicRaptor | Posted: 8/5/2005 12:26:05 AM | #323
So, anyways: Mod Applications are open now. Anyone here going to apply?

Yep, have done, cheers for the tip-off.
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Jon Thomson - MARIO, Samus, SOLID SNAKE, Bowser, CRONO, Squall, Sonic, MEGA MAN

At the 17:00 mark, this match has 76,176 votes.

Ness/CJ - 80,228
Riku/Frog - 73,060
Kratos/Alucard - 73,117

MC's percentage in the last hour: 69.82%

MC's high time has come and gone. 70% is pretty much out of the question now, I think.
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

DMC2 sold less than 500,000 copies. It boosted Dante from 25.02% to 28.23%. Its reception was far worse than that of FFX-2, which has sold 1.4 million copies so far. I don't see why a Dante-style boost is so impossible for Yuna to attain.
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Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent.

DMC2 sold less than 500,000 copies.

No, DMC2 hit the million mark.
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

No, DMC2 hit the million mark.

That, my friend, is a lie. The NPD recently released a list of all current-gen games that have sold at least 500,000 copies, as of the end of May 2k5. DMC2 is not one of the 270 games on the list.
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Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent.

Am I the only one who has 100% confidence in Magus beating Squall and that the match won't be close at all?
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Summer 2005 Contest - 14/16 points
Current Match Prediction: Master Chief vs. CATS

Heh, Crono and Mario are both tied at 16 a piece as likely champs in the Top 50. And the statisticly favorite Samus in 3rd place with 8. Despite my bracket, I am hoping for a Mario/Crono final...
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"Opinions are like butts, little girl. Everyone's got one and nobody thinks their's stink." -Lunar 2:EB
*Claims KG's Eclair & Millia Rage*

MC's high time has come and gone. 70% is pretty much out of the question now, I think.

Assuming the match gets 95k votes, Master Chief would need ~75% of the remaining votes to hit the 70% mark. Actually, Master Chief might not even make 69% if CATs picks up the pace a bit during the night.
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"Those whose memories fade seek to carve them in their hearts..."
"All dreams are but another reality. Never forget..."

Nope, It'll be close.

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"Being a Hunter has to be the best job in the world! Well, next to pimp..."

No, DMC2 hit the million mark.

Unless you're talking about worldwide sales, of course. In which case FFX-2 trounces DMC2 even more solidly. But I'm fairly sure that American sales are far more relevant to the contest than sales anywhere else.
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Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent.

Hmmm...I was pretty sure DMC2 had a million sales, as it was the only Capcom franchse averaging a million per release. I guess that was worldwide numbers.
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

The reason why I have so much confidence in Magus is because I found these 3 polls all from 2k3:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=1353
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=1361
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=1354
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Summer 2005 Contest - 15/17 points
Current Match Prediction: Donkey Kong vs. Sam Fisher

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

From: jonthomson | Posted: 8/4/2005 10:32:58 PM | #294
"favourite video game ever" topic

Somewhat interesting results so far. As I suspected, the casuals love their FPS's. But it's a bit unexpected which one they like most, Halo and Half-Life are both being owned by Goldeneye. Currently only second to a rampant Melee though.

Super Metroid > Prime. SMB3 > SMW. SF2 > SMRPG. OoT > FF7. Outside of the board 8 bubble, people talk sense :-)

Halo 2 > Starcraft > Halo though.
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Jon Thomson - MARIO, Samus, SOLID SNAKE, Bowser, CRONO, Squall, Sonic, MEGA MAN

Super > Prime, and people talk sense? HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Oh well, no matter how you look at it, Master Chief totally missed the target this time. To quote the Head of Capcom, "I've seen Raiden take a better shot!"
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SC2K5 status - Points: 014/015 - Matches: 14/15 - Rank: 01183/33793 - Today: Ryu - Tomorrow: Master Chief

This match is 10k votes behind Ryu/Rikku at this point in their match. Master Chief isn't looking good at all in this match. CATS has been stalling him in percentage for the past hour. Doesn't look like Chief will be reaching 70%. I still don't think DK will be that much of a threat to him though.
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Graduation: April 30, 2005 "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

I haven't gotten caught up yet, but I have just one thing to say:

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Well, three, actually. That was the first. Secondly, kudos to cn for calling this. Thirdly, for those of you who were talking about MC giving Sonic a very close match *coughHarrichAndHeroicMariocough*, well, yeah.
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Summer Contest 2005: 15/16
Today: Master Chief, Tomorrow: Donkey Kong

Match 18: (4) Donkey Kong vs. (5) Sam Fisher

Past Performances

Donkey Kong

Summer 2002
Beat Bub, 61.96% - 38.04%
Beat Aya Brea, 51.06% - 48.94%
Lost to Mario Mario, 18.02% - 81.98%
Ranked: 46th

Summer 2003
Beat Vyse, 62.42% - 37.58%
Lost to Tommy Vercetti, 49.52% - 50.48%
Ranked: 29th

Summer 2004
Lost to Vivi Ornitier, 43.53% - 56.47%
Ranked 25th

Spring 2005
Did not attend
Ranked: N/A

Sam Fisher

Summer 2002
Did not attend
Ranked: N/A

Summer 2003
Lost to Janus “Magus” Zeal, 33.75% - 66.25%
Ranked: 35th

Summer 2004
Beat Gordon Freeman, 55.43% - 44.57%
Lost to Samus Aran, 19.03% - 80.97%
Ranked: 47th

Spring 2005
Did not attend
Ranked: N/A

Analysis

Expected blowout or unexpected nail biter, only you can deicide. Using the adjusted 2k4 x-st we have a 69/31 type of match, but there are many different factors to be discussed and with several different matches this year being unexpected this one can be too. Also Donkey Kong has a knack in bringing close matches.

First let’s talk about last year. Donkey Kong was going up against Vivi and many people thought that this match was going to be a nail-biter (mostly because of his rep), but in the end Vivi won comfortably. Vivi then went up against Sephiroth, most people expected SFF to happen and when everything was done there kind of was so many people just boost Vivi by using Donkey Kong’s numbers. Donkey Kong could’ve grew or fall since 2k3 (which was the only year we’ve had any decent numbers for him), but many people think he’ll be equal.

Now for Sam Fisher, first he had a struggle with Gordon Freeman for a few hours until getting the morning vote and riding it for the win then even after adjusting his drop we have steroids pumped Samus making him look even weaker. So what did make Sam drop so fast? Part of it had to been losing popularity, but I personally think Samus did overperform in her first two matches. If we used unadjusted 20XX Max Payne with Gordon Freeman and then use Freeman with Sam he’ll get 17.04% against 2k4 Link, which still isn’t as good, but at least it’s better. Finally for all we know Sam may have had a bad year and will be back to his 2k3 numbers (highly unlikely though).

Finally we have the Zelda/Vivi match. From what it looked like Vivi had somewhat a chance to upset Zelda. That upset didn’t happen and Zelda beat Vivi 60/40. The board was in somewhat shocked and many Zelda over Snake upsets were called. You can say all the factors you want, but what will come down to is either A) Zelda grew B) Vivi dropped or C) A combination of A & B. This could mean that Donkey Kong may have been overrated in 2k4. But let’s say for a second that Vivi took the full drop and Zelda stayed the same. That will put DK at 19.50%, ahead of Freeman’s adjustment, but under the unlikely 2k3 adjustment.

I like CjayC’s way of thinking. To get a good contest you first have to screw with the statistics so we don’t know what’s coming. So will this match be Donkey Kong’s biggest blowout or will Sam turn around and make this match a 55/45 affair. No one really knows, but I think that this match will be right in the middle.

charmander6000’s Bracket: Donkey Kong over Sam Fisher

charmander6000’s Prediction: Donkey Kong wins, 61.34% - 38.66%

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I've been Pwned by KoaC. He really is the king of all cosmos.

MC still hasn't gotten to 69%? What a clown. Mod App filed. Feedback number almost 8000. Now that is just super.

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RIP: Tnote827 - 4/4/2005
SC2k5 - 17/17 (empty slots in brackets suck)

RPGuy, don't doubt the power of Super CATS. I'm doubting Crono could comfortably triple him. He's to be feared.
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Raiden fact of the contest: Alucard is a plagiarist, this year Raiden will prove it!