Hey, he ALMOST beat Vercetti, and I ALMOST looked like a genius!
---
SC2K5: Samus is going all the way!
Yoshi vs. Pac-Man - Bracket: Yoshi - Vote: Yoshi (54/62)

At this point? I'd take Yoshi over Tifa and feel confident with it.
---
It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

Kefka won't be this strong in terms of prediction percentage next year. He cost many people an "easy" point early on.
---
Board 8: Where people treat each other right.

Every single contest I have lost hard to Kefka. Kefka over Crono. Kefka over Knuckles. Kefka over Diablo (Ridley). Kefka over T. Vercetti.

I think I'm going to keep picking him out of tradition. Kefka over Link, here I come...
---
Only the Snake is the true hero. Solid Snake to the Final Four!

Kefka won't be this strong in terms of prediction percentage next year. He cost many people an "easy" point early on.

...Like last year?
---
It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

Kefka won't be this strong in terms of prediction percentage next year. He cost many people an "easy" point early on.

That's what I said after Knuckles! And even after he was overrated, and I STILL picked him over Vercetti! >_<
---
Only the Snake is the true hero. Solid Snake to the Final Four!

The only Kefka match I ever got wrong was picking Kefka over Ridley. Well, Kefka would've beaten Ridley...
---
"You can't have gone over a kilometer up. 1500 meters, tops." -Samus Aran
"I'll express my love to you slowly, later." -Setzer Gabbiani

Heh, I had Ridley > Kefka...
---
Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

...Like last year?

He had a Spring Contest which he won two matches and made everyone forget about that. Just look at how Bowser and Ganondorf are doing. Unless he's in another Spring Contest (and is successful), the only thing people will remember is the bitter taste in their mouths when Kefka cost them a point.
---
Board 8: Where people treat each other right.

I'm goin' completely by memory here, so correct me on anything I'm wrong about (my home's computer has neither the info nor the speed of my computer at college, sue me)...but Revolver had 55% to get our of his four-pack in the Villains Contest, and Pac-Man had about 35% to beat Luigi last year. Revolver then got over-estimated like most Villain Contest participants and Pac'll probably have afew brackets too...

...Yoshi'll get away with 56% of the brackets here.
---
Hillary Clinton: We need to treat violent video games the way we treat tobacco or alcohol.
Lewis Black: Namely as valued contributors to our re-election fund.

Maybe no one mentions it because he had the exact same one against Bowser.

Erm...that could be it >_> Yeah, I obviously didn't check for that, sorry : (

Although after looking at the two, the Bowser/Ocelot pic is better than the Pacman/Ocelot pic.


---
Revenge is a dish best served cold. ~Old Klingon Proverb

Ocelot had 46% of the brackets to get out of his fourpack.
---
Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

Did he? Whoopsy. I thought he had about 54%.
---
Hillary Clinton: We need to treat violent video games the way we treat tobacco or alcohol.
Lewis Black: Namely as valued contributors to our re-election fund.

The only Kefka match I ever got wrong was picking Kefka over Ridley. Well, Kefka would've beaten Ridley...

Every time I hear this: I am thankful I took that Diablo > Ridley, M Bison & Kefka risk.
---
Today's subliminal thought is:

Every time I hear this: I am thankful I took that Diablo > Ridley, M Bison & Kefka risk.

Heh, and everytime I hear that, I'm reminded how close I was to having a perfect bracket (Ridley >or= Diablo >or= Kefka >or= Bison...if only I had switched Ridley and Diablo, if only.....).
---
Hillary Clinton: We need to treat violent video games the way we treat tobacco or alcohol.
Lewis Black: Namely as valued contributors to our re-election fund.

I knew Diablo was the strongest in that division, yet I let this topic talk me out of him taking the division. I REFUSED to believe that Diablo was losing to Ridley, so I picked Kefka over him due to me listening to this topic and being "safe". I would have only been at -3 if not for that match (Kuja).
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MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

I would have been OK had I not picked Wily over Ocelot...*sigh*
---
Today's subliminal thought is:

I said from the beginning that the winner of Ridley/Diablo would win that division. It's just that I picked the wrong winner. >_>
---
Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

But what if Diablo had been weaker than Ridley? Ridley would've lost to Bison...
---
"You can't have gone over a kilometer up. 1500 meters, tops." -Samus Aran
"I'll express my love to you slowly, later." -Setzer Gabbiani

The funny thing is that I don't know a thing about Diablo the game. I just figured out what his strength would be just from hearing people on the board talk about the game.
---
MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

Well, I thought Ridley > Bison and Kefka.
---
Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

There's always "what if?" involved, and who's to say that Diablo's the one who comes down to Ridley's level in that case?
---
Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Devil Division Final: (5)Vincent Valentine

I said from the beginning that the winner of Ridley/Diablo would win that division.

As did I.


If Diablo was weaker than what Ridley turned out to be, then yeah, he woulda lost to Bison probably. However, I expected the winner of Ridley/Diablo to take it home, and it turned out Diablo was stronger than what I thought Ridley would be. I did that ordering-equation based on who I would have taken to win the division; had I known Ridley would have lost, I was gonna take Diablo.
---
Hillary Clinton: We need to treat violent video games the way we treat tobacco or alcohol.
Lewis Black: Namely as valued contributors to our re-election fund.

well i knew Diablo would win the division, so there. =P

unfortunately, i also thought Sin could win it's 4-pack...... >_<

---
"Start wearing purple, for me now. All your sanity and wits, they will all vanish, i promise. It's just a matter of time..."

Well, Sin was about 2000 votes away from getting it done.
---
Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Devil Division Final: (5)Vincent Valentine

Sin was about 2,000 votes away from being another FFX-trophy for Ganon, too.
---
Hillary Clinton: We need to treat violent video games the way we treat tobacco or alcohol.
Lewis Black: Namely as valued contributors to our re-election fund.

also, i just beat Megaman Command Mission and Zero is completely awesome in that game. i really hope he does respectably against Mario tomorrow. with this site-wide Nintendo boost, i would definitely take Mario over Megaman now, so Mario will do better than Megaman's 56%. but, i'm really hoping Zero will stay above 40%.

---
"Start wearing purple, for me now. All your sanity and wits, they will all vanish, i promise. It's just a matter of time..."

I had Robotnik over Sin. The problem was that I had him losing to Kuja >_<
---
Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

I couldn't get into Command Mission enough to finish it; /in fact, I dunno if I got half-way or not. It did make Zero a lil' better in my eyes, but still anything but special.
---
Hillary Clinton: We need to treat violent video games the way we treat tobacco or alcohol.
Lewis Black: Namely as valued contributors to our re-election fund.

I had Robotnik taking the 4-pack, but I also had Ridley taking the division.
---
17 have challenged Nintendo in the handheld market, 17 have failed. (see quote for list)

I don't think I've completed an MMX game since the 3rd one, so I've missed quite a bit. Zero was awesome in the ones I played.
---
Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Devil Division Final: (5)Vincent Valentine

Match 49: (1) Mario Mario vs. (3) Zero

Past Performances

Mario Mario

Summer 2005
Beat Joanna Dark, 80.11% - 19.89%
Beat Ness, 82.80% - 17.20%

Win - Lose Record
12-3

Zero

Summer 2005
Beat Ryu Hayabusa, 63.00% - 37.00%
Beat Lloyd Irving, 73.25% - 26.75%

Win - Lose Record
5-2

Analysis

Welcome to round 3 where the noble 9 goes against a non-noble 9, but since we only have 6 of the here two of them won’t be featuring one of them. Round 3 has been known for being the most boring round and the only thing I’m really watching for this round are to answer my questions of the up-coming rounds.

We all knew Mario was to SFF Ness, but some of us believed that Ness had a hardcore fanbase so we thought Mario couldn’t break 80% without trouble, well he proved us all wrong by easily destroying Ness. So much for your loyal fans voting for you Ness! Zero on the other hand proved to us that Hayabusa’s gain was from her own and not from Zero getting weaker, unless you think Mithos > Lloyd (I’m not familiar with the ToS favorite list, but from the board reaction I believe that’s true.).

Zero is no weakling; he did very well against Mega Man despite there being no SFF or anything. Mario should put up similar numbers tomorrow against Zero. There’s still the risk of Zero being at his unadjusted placing and therefore Mario would break 60%. I still think Zero will at least break 40% tomorrow.

charmander6000’s Bracket: Mario Mario over Zero

charmander6000’s Prediction: Mario wins, 58.62% - 41.38%
---
17 have challenged Nintendo in the handheld market, 17 have failed. (see quote for list)

Heh, there were two (maybe three) times where Leonhart had me starin' at my bracket and wantin' to change to Kuja > MH. He certainly put up the good arguements and the rest of the board wasn't helpin' me boost my confidence.
---
Hillary Clinton: We need to treat violent video games the way we treat tobacco or alcohol.
Lewis Black: Namely as valued contributors to our re-election fund.

Never listen to the board, you'll only blame them instead. Everytime I make a mistake I have no one to blame other then myself.
---
17 have challenged Nintendo in the handheld market, 17 have failed. (see quote for list)

The board CAN be somewhat useful. I wouldn't have taken Ocelot over Wily without all of the board support for Ocelot. But then again, that was the only time in the spring at which the board was useful to me.

So yeah, trust your own instincts for the most part.
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MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

I hadn't even gone to the board when I made my Sp2k5 bracket. I picked Ocelot > Wily, but it was a tough choice.
---
Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

I listen on occasion on matches I seriously know nothing about (Vyse/Laharl, for example) or on matches I'm torn on and the board is very lop-sided (Sora/HK-47, sadly enough, which also fit my first description, heh). Usually though, I try not to mess with my bracket at all after, say, two days from when I first fill it out. If the board doesn't influence me by then, I usually don't let it period.
---
Hillary Clinton: We need to treat violent video games the way we treat tobacco or alcohol.
Lewis Black: Namely as valued contributors to our re-election fund.

Usually though, I try not to mess with my bracket at all after, say, two days from when I first fill it out.

Heh, I try not to mess with at all after half an hour after the bracket is released. Early leaderboard is awesome, and generally the changes wouldn't be too great anyway...well, I suppose it would've been this year. I *almost* changed to Sora over Alucard...and I really should've.
---
Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent.

Early leaderboard is awesome, and generally the changes wouldn't be too great anyway...

Getting on the FINAL leaderboard is even better. Besides, if your bracket is good enough, you'll eventually break into the leaderboard. Getting on the leaderboard early is overrated anyways... The only way it actually is worth it is if it's a favorites bracket and you have your favorite character winning on the leaderboard (i.e. what Leonhart did).
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MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

I was #6 on the leaderboard until I lost it to Ness/CJ.

Yeah, early leaderboard sucks.
---
Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

People were asking about why the pictures weren't up yet. Ceej was on AIM earlier tonight, but signed off to go and do artwork about half an hour ago. I'm assuming artwork means the next match pic or two, so it shouldn't be much longer.

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
"If my fate is to be destroyed... I must simply laugh!" -Magus

Early leaderboard's better than no leaderboard at all, and like I said, changing because of the board is usually a bad idea. Besides, it's pretty fun to lose your perfect on a really easy match (HK-47 over Sora...) and to defend absurd match picks. It's not like most of us have a chance of winning anyway, especially if we get something like Magus over Devil Division wrong.
---
Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent.

You were talking to him? Why not influence him about how the sprite pics should turn out. I had a wonderful suggestion earlier, actually... <_<
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MM are my INITIALS "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

Mushroom Division Round 3 - Match 49 – (1)Mario vs. (3)Zero
*Insert awesome sprite picture here*

Mario
Round 1 – vs. Joanna Dark (Mario: 80.90% - Joanna: 19.10%)
Round 2 – vs. Ness (Mario: 82.80% - Ness: 17.20%)

Oh SFF….that ugly, ugly SFF. Wow.

Zero
Round 1 – vs. Ryu H. (Zero: 63.00% - Ryu: 37.00%)
Round 2 – vs. Lloyd (Zero: 73.25% - Lloyd: 26.75%)

Lloyd turns out to be pretty darn weak, which is sad to see.

The second most interesting, and final match in the Mushroom Division is…..Mario vs. Zero! Really, this match is a lot cooler looking than it is on paper. Let’s look a little closer at this one.

Alright, brief comment on both characters past Contest performances. In 2002, Mario made it to the finals and lost to Link, while Zero stayed at home. 2003, Mario makes it to the Elite 8, and gets owned by Seph, getting just over 38% on him. Zero made it to Round 2, and lost to Sonic with an impressive 48%. 2004, Mario loses to Crono in the Sweet 16 with 47% of the vote, while Zero loses to Mega Man with 44%. On that note, Crono lost to Link with 37%, and Mega Man lost to Link with 32%.

This year, Mario has beaten both his opponents with over 80% of the vote, and Zero beat Ryu with 63% and Lloyd with 73%. Zero’s performance against Ryu was a bit weak, but it could be attributed to Ryu getting a Ninja pic. Other than that, both characters have been doing great. Now these two beasts go head-to-head in what should be a pretty neat match.

Now, back when the Contest first started, talk of Zero over Mario was…existant, It was a pretty sneaky upset, that looked like it could happen, but come on people. I wouldn’t put Sonic OR Mega Man over Mario. I see Mario as right under Samus and Crono, and above Mega, Sonic and Snake. Zero couldn’t beat Sonic, and he hasn’t seemed to have gotten any stronger. Mario is on the Nintendo side, and they’ve been looking crazy strong. I just don’t see the upset here. Mario needs to do well here though, because Samus is right around the corner, and a character that has gotten 40% on Cloud is no joke at all.

Moltar’s Bracket Says: Mario will win.

Moltar’s Prediction is: Mario: 58% - Zero: 42%



Ulti’s Analysis

This is the match where we finally get to see Zero's true colors. Is this the same Zero that came close to Sonic and barely suffered any SFF against Mega Man last year, or is Zero somehow overrated in the stats? Whatever the case, here is his match to prove himself.

Personally, I think Zero's goal should be Shadow's 2003 score against Mario. It should be doable, given that Shadow has since proven to either be overrated or masked by Tidus (and Shadow isn't even IN the contest this year). The only problem with that is whether or not Mario has somehow increased. This match may tell us a lot more things than whether or not Zero is the real deal.

Meh, screw it. I'll call a blowout just for the hell of it. It's not like we have much evidence to make an educated guess, so why not be stupid? =p

Prediction: Mario with 59.99%



Outback’s Analysis

Zero showed last year that he is no joke. Keeping Mega Man at 56% with the possibility of SFF shows that you have major contest strength. With a better draw, Zero could've done some major damage, but not against Mario, the King of Games. Mario has shown this year that he is an absolute powerhouse, and that EVERYBODY needs to watch it.

Mario with 61.00%
---
SC2K5: Samus is going all the way!
Yoshi vs. Pac-Man - Bracket: Yoshi - Vote: Yoshi (54/62)

Soul’s Analysis

Round 2 Results

Mario defeated Ness: 82.80% - 17.20%

Zero defeated Lloyd Irving: 73.25% - 26.75%

Well, round 2 was amazing, just as expected. Match after match with amazing results... and that all comes to a screeching halt in round 3. With 7 boring matches in a row (2 from last round), it seems as if this contest is going to get really boring. Well, it might be for a while, but there's still greatly anticipated matches for this round. Squall/Vincent could go either way. Sonic/Tifa looks rather interesting. Hell, even Mega Man/Yoshi looks like it could turn some heads.

The first match has some potential to be somewhat decent. Zero is a character that has always ranked in the top 15 of every contest he's been in. Sadly, he's up against someone who's placed in the top 6 of every contest he's been in. Well, sadly if you're a Zero fan that is.

Mario, on the otherhand, is probably the favorite to win this contest right now. The strange thing about it though is that he's not favored because of his matches, but because of everyone elses matches. With a decent win over Joanna, then a SFF blow-out against Ness, we can't really figure out how strong he is right now. But, we do know that he's the second or third favorite Nintendo character in this contest. With that said, every Nintendo character has had some sort of boost in this contest. Although, there's no sign of that in Mario, it's pretty safe to assume that he has risen as well.

Zero, on the other hand, performed decently so far. Although he looked like he weakened slightly against Ryu Hayabusa in round 1, it isn't anything significant. In round 2, he demolished a highly overrated Lloyd Irving. Seeing as how badly he performed in round 1, Zero was expected a result of this sort against Lloyd. Again, no surprises here.

Basically, Zero has performed like he was expected to perform. With that said, he's expected to lose to Mario without a boost. I think it's fair to say that we'll see what kind of boost Mario got againt Zero. Here's hoping he blows away all expectation.

Here's a respectable final to the most predictable division in the contest.

My prediction: Mario wins with 58.69% of the vote. Complete guess, but I've got some pretty good results with these type of guesses before.



Inviso’s Analysis

This match is one that at one point could’ve been a good upset pick. I mean, Zero was definitely strong in his match with Sonic, and even did so well as to avoid most of the SFF Megaman could lay down on him. Not to mention the fact that Mario seemed to have been on a decline in recent years, going from two fluke victories over Crono to being physically owned. But now, after seeing all the Nintendo characters in action, I think Mario has this one sewn up. Mario blew out TWO characters, at least one of which was via SFF, but still. Zero made Ryu look good, but redeemed himself by walloping a ToS character that struggled with Wesker. After seeing DK, the second weakest Nintendo character, lead Master Chief for a long time, after seeing Ness beat a new character from a GTA game by more than he beat Jak, and after seeing Luigi beat KOS-MOS by about 15% more than he should have, I have no doubt in my mind that Mario has the capability to beat Zero with 60% of the vote. Now, despite this, my anti-Nintendo-ness is not will to let me give one of the few characters I like from Megaman 40% or less. I just don’t know how I could live with myself after that.

My Bracket: Mario Mario
My Vote: Zero
My Prediction: Mario Mario with 59.13%
---
SC2K5: Samus is going all the way!
Yoshi vs. Pac-Man - Bracket: Yoshi - Vote: Yoshi (54/62)

Tnote’s Analysis

Using Zero through 2k3 Mega Man, one would think this could actually be a match. Using Zero through the brutalized Mega Man from last year, when coupled with the super uber burst the SSB:M characters are getting this year, and this sadly will never be close. I will be shocked if Zero can outdo Shadow's performance, but given Mario has positioned himself to be a major player this year, anything in the 40s would color me impressed.

Pick: Mario with 58.27%



Vlado’s Analysis

Well, this year, we have the division finals one round earlier, due to the smaller size of the divisions. I don't know if this is for the better, to be honest, I think that it makes the tournament look more cluttered. Either way, we have our first divsion final. It will be a boring one, and everyone knows who will win. Much like the next four. If there was any doubt about Mario's victory before the contest, it was removed after we saw what huge increase Nintendo has somehow achieved this year. As cool as Zero is, this year, especially, who wins is not based on how "badass" they look.

Zero's biggest achievement in these contests was in 2003 when, as a lowly 7th seed, he managed to get 47.66% against Sonic, losing by less than 5,000 votes. It was his stellar moment, but I don't think he'll be able to achieve anything like it anytime soon. Not this year, at least. So far, he beat Ryu Hayabusa (in his ninja outfit) impressively, then almost tripled Lloyd, who proved that his game is little more than cult, even on a Nintendo-dominated site like GameFAQs. Despite everything, I just don't think he can do anything against Mario... If I went with the stats, I should have Mario winning with less than 55%, but I just don't feel that this will be the case.

Mario hasn't done anything in this contest yet. He got over 80% on both Joanna Dark and Ness, but Ness was SFF'd, while Joanna obviously isn't well known enough, despite her new game being projected to launch with the Xbox 360. Not to mention that she might've suffered some SFF, as well, since her popularity should come mainly from her N64 game. However, I have the feeling that Mario will be much stronger this year than in the previous two contests. He has a very good chance to win, and I think just Crono's chances are better, and that's mostly because Samus is in Mario's way. I think that the match against Zero will prove Mario's immense strength this contest and will fuel the hopes of people wanting him to win the whole thing.

Predicted percentage: Mario with 63.81%.

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SC2K5: Samus is going all the way!
Yoshi vs. Pac-Man - Bracket: Yoshi - Vote: Yoshi (54/62)

From: therealmnm | Posted: 9/4/2005 11:44:02 PM | Message Detail | #443
You were talking to him? Why not influence him about how the sprite pics should turn out. I had a wonderful suggestion earlier, actually... <_<

I'm on CJayC's buddy list. You think I'm going to flood him with stupid questions? Besides, assuming this is the sprite round, whatever he does will be fine. This always has been and will be his best work, for better or worse.

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
"If my fate is to be destroyed... I must simply laugh!" -Magus

We ALL picked high?! God damn.

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
"If my fate is to be destroyed... I must simply laugh!" -Magus

Looks like Moltar will be getting a point... I'm surprised 58% is the lowest prediction.
---
The King of all Cosmos' route to summer victory:
Round 1: (0) Voters

Same here.

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
"If my fate is to be destroyed... I must simply laugh!" -Magus