Here's how I clarify the levels (based on 2K3 Link):

35% on up: Elite

35%-29%: Near Elite

29%-23%: Midcarder

23%-21%: Low-End Midcarder

21%-19%: High-End Fodder

19%-5%: Fodder

5%-0%: Tanner Fodder Zone
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"I don't like it when people I don't like get what they want."--Janelle

Just to clear up how I view these things.


Elite = All the characters who are widely regarded as the powerhouses of the contest. Characters like Sonic, Mario, Samus, Sephiroth, etc.

Near-Elite = The few characters who fall into that small "patch" right under the elite characters. Most notably, characters such as Ganon, Zero, and Magus once ranked -- usually between 30% - 34% on BL.

Mid-carder = All the characters below the near-elite line and above the fodder line. A majority of the contestants tend to fall in this range using Vyse as the fodder line. Dante, Kirby, Yoshi, Vivi, Vercetti, etc.

Fodder = Self-explanatory. The weakest characters to enter into a contest, generally below Vyse's value of 19% on BL. Gordon Freeman, Laharl, Lara Croft, CATS, etc. usually are known for occupying this area.


Not the greatest of explanations, but that's usually how I feel when I use any of those terms.

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“What is it that is most precious to you, Cloud? I’ll enjoy stripping that from you!” – Sephiroth

Mario only won the last update by 29. if Zero keeps it up, he might actually win an update. that would be a small moral victory. ^_^

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

Man, Mario's percentage is still dropping pretty badly. He only got 55% on the last two updates.
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It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

Mario's never been that much of a late night beast, unless you count *that* match with Crono...
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Only the Snake is the true hero. Solid Snake to the Final Four!

But still...Only 55% per update right now? That's pretty bad.
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It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

We should probably keep in mind Zero won several updates in the second night-vote against Mega Man.
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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, winning updates is different when you're only getting 37% of the vote.
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It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

I agree, I'm just sayin' that Zero doin' well right now shouldn't be all that surprising.
---
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.

Zebes Division Round 3 - Match 50 – (1)Samus vs. (3)Ganondorf
This match sucks….a lot.

Samus
Round 1 – vs. Ryu H. (Samus: 87.32% - Yuri: 12.68%)
Round 2 – vs. Frog (Samus: 70.05% - Frog: 29.95%)

Wow, Frog was weak. Samus easily takes care of business.

Ganondorf
Round 1 – vs. Yuna (Ganondorf: 61.20% - Yuna: 38.80%)
Round 2 – vs. Auron (Ganondorf: 54.10% - Auron: 45.90%)

Auron had a chance, but Ganondorf still won the match quite easily.

Bah, as I said in the Intro, this match sucks. I love Samus, but Ganondorf is my favorite character…ugh.

Alright, as much as it pains me to analyze this, I will. Samus has been looking very impressive in this Contest. She’s supposed to be taking out Mario, according to many brackets. Mario has been looking great so far, but so has Ms. Aran. She holds the biggest blow-out in the Contest in her Round 1 match with Yuri, and then exposed Frog for the weak little amphibian he is.

Ganondorf has also been doing well. He had to first face Yuna, an opponent he was looking to double. Yuna has had FFX-2 since 2003, and that caused her to do better than expected on Ganondorf. Ganon still managed to get 61% on her though. Then, Ganon had to face another FF character. This time it was Auron. Maybe thought Auron would be able to pull off the upset, but he only managed 46% on the Gerudo King.

Well, not much too look at here. Samus has gotten 40% on Cloud, and Ganon has gotten 41% on Seph. Samus is also the 2nd strongest Nintendo character in this Contest. Yep, even above Mario. Ganondorf stands no chance here. It will be interesting to see how she does compared to Seph though, and if she’ll be able to get massive SFF on Ganon (because we already know she’s getting some).

Moltar’s Bracket Says: Samus will win.

Moltar’s Prediction is: Samus: 65% - Ganondorf: 35%



Ulti’s Analysis

Sorry about not e-mailing you anything today, M. My two choices were to either write for this topic or write thank you cards for the weddings guests. I went with the latter.

Anyway, this match will actually be interesting, if only to see how much SFF Samus will actually benefit from. But as for being an actual match... meh, boring. It's interesting in that we can't really call what will happen all too well, but that's about it.

Prediction: Samus with 61.61%



Outback’s Analysis

Here we have another case of a strong character put in an impossible draw. Put Ganon in the Devil division and we'll talk.

Samus with 62.00%



Inviso’s Analysis

Samus is noble nine with two blowouts under her belt, one of which was over a character that was tested and supposedly strong. Ganondorf on the other hand, had two wins over FFX characters, one of which made Auron look like he was weaker than Tidus, another sign of a definite Nintendo increase. Now, Samus and Ganondorf should supposedly BOTH have benefited from the Nintendo increase, so going into this match, they’re going to be about the same in strength as they’ve been in past years of the contest. Samus has this one locked though; she’s had it locked since she was given this division with no other noble niners in it. Ganondorf is just not strong enough. Now, unlike in matches between Ness and Mario, this is a match between two Nintendo characters where SFF won’t be as big a factor. Mario characters, Metroid characters, and Zelda characters are all strong enough on their own to avoid being SFFed to a great extent by each other. Link’s beating of Samus and Mario was just showing how much stronger he is, with a slight amount of SFF. Ganondorf will look good during this match, even though he’ll lose.

My Bracket: Samus Aran
My Vote: Samus Aran
My Prediction: Samus Aran with 58.75%

Soul’s Analysis

Round 2 Results

Samus defeated Frog: 70.05% - 29.95%

Ganondorf defeated Auron: 54.1% - 45.9%

Before I start this, I just got to say that perfect predictions rule!

Speaking of perfect predictions, Ganondorf comes off of his 54.1% win (<3 ) over Auron last round. Pretty shocking result for a match that could have gone either way. That last sentence could apply to every match in the gauntlet, by the way. Anyways, Ganondorf impressed everyone with his win against the most powerful FFX character.

Samus also impressed us. What was supposed to be a somewhat close match against Frog (to the X-stats followers) turned out to be a 70% blow-out for Ms. Aran. This can be attributed to Frog over performing against Snake in 2004, thus causing him, Chief and Liquid to be stronger then they actually are.

Of course, the signs of Frog being weak were all over the place in this contest and Spring. After Liquid was projected to get 35% on Sephiroth, he went on to only get 24%. Not only that, but signs show that Sephiroth weakened in the Spring. People thought it was just a one time thing. Of course, then Liquid was snubbed in this contest. No problem though, since Frog and Chief were still strong.

Chief was given a 1 seed. Most people believed that this was because of Halo 2. Therefore, people believed that he was much stronger then the stats show him to be. Hell, people even thought he could take out Sonic and Snake. Of course, we all remember what happened to the Chief. He let CATS break 30% on him. He was losing for almost half of the match against Donkey Kong. Looks like Halo 2 did absolutely nothing to Master Chief.

Then Frog went and couldn't even break 30% on Samus. Basically, that trifecta there was only one problem with the stats of last year. But this analysis is neither the time nor place to argue about the stats.

Basically, we got two very strong characters who showed already that they have gained many a voter from last year. Of course, they're both from Nintendo, so SFF can rear it's very ugly head in here. It's very possible. Of course, I don't believe it could. Legend of Zelda characters are not those who are on the bad side of SFF (minus the Link/Ganon match, of course). In fact, Link barely, if at all, SFFed Mario and Samus when he fought both of those characters. Why would Ganondorf do the same? Why would others SFF Ganondorf, other then Link? I believe that LoZ series is so distant from the other Nintendo series that it could be able to defeat SFF. This makes the match somewhat closer, in my eyes.

Of course, I could be very wrong and Ganon could lose it in another 80-20 match. But I just can't see it happening.

My prediction: Samus wins with 58.69% of the vote. Well, if it isn't the same prediction from last match? I have no clue why I'm going with it, but why not.

Tnote’s Analysis

Ganon got ridiculously SFFed the last time he faced an SSB:M character. Now Samus is no Link, but this match will have some serious SFF action. Ganon put up a performance in Spring that puts him within 55/45 on Samus. However, Nintendo SFF has proven to be fairly rough (Fox, Ness, etc...). I fully expect a doubling, and a push towards 70% seems plausible.

Pick: Samus with 68.27%



Vlado’s Analysis

Meh. As the second division final, we get a boring SFF match that I doubt will be anywhere near interesting. For a short period of time, I contemplated whether Ganondorf could achieve a beautiful upset that would kill 75% of all brackets and near 100% of the board ones (not that they aren't dead already). But I realized that it's simply impossible. Sure, the people who like the Zelda series and dislike or don't care about Metroid will vote Ganon, but there are way too few of those. I'm sure that people who like both series will vote for Samus. Even if it's for the simple fact that Samus is the protagonist of her game, while Ganon is a villain.

These two had a different path so far. Samus didn't even break 90% against Yuri, whose game has been played by like 3 people, but then broke 70 on Frog, doing not much more than prove that Frog was very overestimated in last year's stats. Something Frog's struggle with Riku had already hinted. So far, Samus is pretty much doing as expected. The same can be said about Ganondorf. He faced two FFX characters and handled them in good fashion. His win over Yuna was expected, he even did worse than the stats projected him to do. But we know well by now that the stats fail. His second match was far more impressive, though. He beat Auron by over 8,000 votes and that's an achievement few have the ability for.

Does Ganon have any chance here, though? Quite frankly, no. His great win over Auron means nothing now. He's up against another Nintendo character, and that's his doom. Even if his series is much better known, he's a villain. He can't compare to Link's popularity, no matter how we look at it. This match is so useless. It will prove nothing. Samus can win with 80% of the vote and still lose to Mario afterwards. I hate such matches.

Predicted percentage: Samus with 71.14%.

Meh... too late Zero.
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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."

Vlado, Vlado, Vlado....
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I know what I'm getting into, I don't care if I die trying!-Peppita Rossetti

WTF @ Vlado's analysis.
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Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

Hold, Mario....hold >_>

Zero under 37 sounds much more impressive than above to me, for whatever reason =p
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Halo 2 Rankings
Team Slayer - 25 Team Preview - 19 Team Skirmish - 13

It's actually a pretty decent analysis for as much as he's said he hated Samus... I expected worse.
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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."

It doesn't look like Mario's gonna hold above 63% right now.
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It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

Samus didn't even break 90% against Yuri, whose game has been played by like 3 people

dot dot dot
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Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

Samus didn't even break 90% against Yuri, whose game has been played by like 3 people

Please, I myself have forced more than three people to play his game(s).

===
Oh. My. God.
Did the PS2's light just change color...?!

I hate to say it: but I had no idea who Yuri was and had to look it up. He just is not known.
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Today's subliminal thought is:

I knew who he was (mostly because of KB). I've wanted to play Shadow Hearts, but I can't find the original anywhere.
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It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

It doesn't matter who the opponent is, an 87% crushing is an impressive feat.
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Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

I've wanted to play Shadow Hearts, but I can't find the original anywhere.

In that case, play Star Ocean 3!
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I know what I'm getting into, I don't care if I die trying!-Peppita Rossetti

I think I'll pass and play Mario Superstar Baseball instead.
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It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

I've wanted to play Shadow Hearts, but I can't find the original anywhere.

So have I.
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Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

And we've hit 100k... Zero is still on his way to 37 though.
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Vote for Yoshi
You have no chance to survive make your time.

I think I'll pass and play Mario Superstar Baseball instead.

Why? $20 for the greatest game ever, or $50 for a Mario Sports game?
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I know what I'm getting into, I don't care if I die trying!-Peppita Rossetti

I think I'll pass and play Mario Superstar Baseball instead.

*puts on a boxing glove*

I may have to get that game too; good times, good times.
---
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 didn't actually pay anything for Mario Baseball. I got it off of store credit.
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It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

Star Ocean 3 is nowhere near the greatest game ever. Good game, but not the best.
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Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

Oh, right. Still, $20 for the best game ever, or nothing for nothing? >_>
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I know what I'm getting into, I don't care if I die trying!-Peppita Rossetti

I think I'll pass and play Mario Superstar Baseball instead.

I would too.
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Vote for Yoshi
You have no chance to survive make your time.

In that case, play Star Ocean 3!

Do the world a favor: Don't.
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Today's subliminal thought is:

Heh, watching DK bat with a boxing glove is awesome. He's a good pitcher, too, actually. Princess Daisy is surprisingly a power hitter, too.

I hit a grand slam with a Koopa Troopa though. That was pretty sweet.
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It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

I haven't done this in a while, but I figure it doesn't hurt to check up on it -- it's fun too.

At Mario's current percentage of 63.17%, he is placed at 38.7% against 2004 Link. Samus is projected to get 51.01% and Sephiroth is projected to get 54.36%. Mario's actual boost from 2004 to 2005 is looking at 3.93% at this point.

As usual, this is assuming Samus and Sephiroth both have stayed constant since 2004 and is based off the unadjusted stats.

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“What is it that is most precious to you, Cloud? I’ll enjoy stripping that from you!” – Sephiroth

Mario Baseball...

I need to rent that soon, because stupid Blockbuster didn't have it when I went there.
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SC2K5: Samus is going all the way!
Samus vs. Ganondorf - Bracket: Samus - Vote: Ganon (60/68)

Luigi after he strikes somebody out = Priceless
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It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

Is this match still on pace to break 110k?
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Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

At Mario's current percentage of 63.17%, he is placed at 38.7% against 2004 Link. Samus is projected to get 51.01% and Sephiroth is projected to get 54.36%. Mario's actual boost from 2004 to 2005 is looking at 3.93% at this point.

And would Mario/Crono look like if Crono remained constant from 2k4?
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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*

It's still about 1,000 ahead of Snake/Zelda, so yes.
---
It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

At Mario's current percentage of 63.17%, he is placed at 38.7% against 2004 Link. Samus is projected to get 51.01% and Sephiroth is projected to get 54.36%. Mario's actual boost from 2004 to 2005 is looking at 3.93% at this point.

That's IT? I forgot how strong Mario was. 38.7% only puts him on the other side of Crono. This isn't as big as a blowout as I thought... I was just being optimistic for Zero taking a chunk out of him. I can live with a 4% Mario increase.
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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."

Mario's currently projected to beat Crono with 51.96%.

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“What is it that is most precious to you, Cloud? I’ll enjoy stripping that from you!” – Sephiroth

52/48
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17 have challenged Nintendo in the handheld market, 17 have failed. (see quote for list)

...I Still say Crono will make it a fight...
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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 think Crono will impress against Master Chief.
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Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

These next few round are gonna be us waiting to see who can outdo Mario.
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Return of SF1: YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE!
makeyourchance: Yes I do! It's Samsonite.

Samus's range for tomorrow -- based on 2003 Ganon through Spring Ganon -- appears to be 55.11% - 59.01% before any SFF, just to bring that back up. I'd like to see Samus get right around 60%.

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“What is it that is most precious to you, Cloud? I’ll enjoy stripping that from you!” – Sephiroth

You know, I really don't see Ganon holding up against Samus. Ganon may get a lot of support for being the Zelda villain and being in SSBM and all, but I don't really see a lot of true Ganon fans around. I have a feeling that Samus may rip Ganon a new one...

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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."

You do know if Samus only gets 55% the whole board will say Mario is a lock.
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17 have challenged Nintendo in the handheld market, 17 have failed. (see quote for list)