I personally think Luigi = Yoshi now, but that's more of a guess than anything. I expect Tifa to rank above both of them.

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http://speeddemosarchive.com

If Tifa ranks above Yoshi it'll be due to MM/Yoshi SFF. <.<
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Only the Snake is the true hero. Solid Snake to the Final Four!

ha, I made that joke yesterday.

if Tifa ranks above Yoshi it'll be because Sonic beats MM.
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http://speeddemosarchive.com

So whoever does better on Tifa/Yoshi will be the favorite going into Mega Man/Sonic?

I don't think so unless it's like a 2 or more percent difference.
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17 have challenged Nintendo in the handheld market, 17 have failed. (see quote for list)

Well, it should at least give us a decent idea of who should be the favorite.
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Devil Division Final: (5)Vincent Valentine

So, even if Crono pushed MC back up to 62% with the night vote, doesn't that still put the Chief right around where the 2004 stats project?

Guess he didn't drop after all...chalk it up to face shot CATS and DK receiving a piece of the Nintendo boost pie.
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"Thank you, Mario. But our princess is in another castle."
-Toad in Super Mario Bros.

Nah, it just means that Halo 2 conveniently brought him up there unless Samus has increased to the level of Link.
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Devil Division Final: (5)Vincent Valentine

I think the night vote should of started already, but MC is still gaining. Crono might not even gain anymore
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- - -

Well, it's not so much that he didn't drop as much as he's the only person in that overrated fourpack with reason to rise.
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Only the Snake is the true hero. Solid Snake to the Final Four!

Yeah, but a constant Crono implies Ansem should've never beaten CATS with that pick, and DK's boost suddenly becomes good enough to rank in the top 20.
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"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

Oh, I don't think Crono stayed constant, and I've been arguing since the beginning of the contest that he didn't.
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Only the Snake is the true hero. Solid Snake to the Final Four!

Wouldn't the 2k4 stats have MC a bit high due to the Snake/Frog anomoly? So if MC lines up with those stats I suppose he's gotten the increase that everyone expected he had anyway.
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Currently: 71/80 | Next: Crono

A 'bit' high? No way does Snake job to Donkey Kong for half the day.
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Only the Snake is the true hero. Solid Snake to the Final Four!

I think Crono has dropped. His performance today certainly hints at it, and if one is to believe that Vercetti has decreased (as I certainly do), then that match result was also underwhelming. At this point, I'm writing it off as a near-impossibility for him to defeat the Nintendo representative in the finals, even if it's Mario. Crono just better hope that Sonic and Mega Man don't bring their A games.
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SC2K5 Guru Contest: Where _______ kicked my ass.

I was arguing about a month ago with someone that Crono will have his hands full with the winner of Sonic/MM.. but I don't think this is that bad. MC isn't your typical character, he's got a huge fanbase and a huge anti-fanbase. no one's ever blown him out, and I'm not sure anyone ever will. he'd need to go against Link to get doubled. Crono would still put up a fight vs. Samus or Mario.
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http://speeddemosarchive.com

Obviously this isn't *that* bad for Crono, as Halo 2 obviously has made an impact, but I just think that dedicated fanbase or no, he would be doing better than this if he stayed constant. IMO he's fallen, if only just a smidge.
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Only the Snake is the true hero. Solid Snake to the Final Four!

If you were to extrapolate MC through DK, where does this performance put Crono?

Even if Crono's fallen so much as a smidge, it's still too much. Mario's been an absolute monster so far, and Samus has been very solid as well.
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"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

2k4 DK, I meant.

2k4 DK, I meant.

I'm no expert on the stats, but that would probably put him below 30% on bl.
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"The idiots on gamefaqs are easy to find because they always quote themselves" - dragoontheguy

well, I've always thought the winner of Samus/Mario is the winner of the main bracket. after seeing what happened to Magus, I figured Crono had to fall at least a tiny bit, and that tiny bit is plenty enough.

2k4 DK goes through MM, doesn't it? 2k3 DK is probably the better idea.
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http://speeddemosarchive.com

So is MC ever going to stop gaining percent? You'd think the night vote would start by now.

2k4 DK goes through MM, doesn't it?

No, I think it goes through sephiroth though, which might as well be the same thing given how much he likes to super nova the xstats,
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"The idiots on gamefaqs are easy to find because they always quote themselves" - dragoontheguy

So is MC ever going to stop gaining percent? You'd think the night vote would start by now.

MC is actually decent with the second night vote, regardless of what the first one would lead you to believe. I thought he'd start decreasing too though. Doesn't look like it's going to happen.
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"The idiots on gamefaqs are easy to find because they always quote themselves" - dragoontheguy

nah, if he supernovaed the stats, they'd take five minutes to load. good call, though, it is indeed Seph.

I wouldn't trust any Nintendo character's value at this point though. if anything, go assuming 2k4 Crono = 2k5 Crono, cause DK and MC are likely not where they were last year. Crono too, of course, but I'd trust Crono's value to be constant before the other two.
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http://speeddemosarchive.com

If this ends 40-60, I will be very, very happy.

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Magus screwed my bracket over. Yay!

That's not looking too likely. But 61-39 looks pretty doable.
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Uh oh, they started moving their legs back and forth while standing in place. You're about to fight aren't you? - My friend watching me play FFT

If Crono doesn't start upping his % soon, I will be very, very angry.

And I think Mega Man / Sonic have a very good shot at taking down Crono now. Though I wish that MM and Sonic could just team up and beat up Crono that way. Too bad...
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Vote for Yoshi
You have no chance to survive make your time.

Imagine if Sonic gets 60% on Tifa. Getting almost the same percent on Tifa that Crono did on MC...

Devil Division Round 3 - Match 54 – (5)Vincent Valentine vs. (2)Squall Leonhart
Too many emo jokes to choose from here.

Vincent
Round 1 – vs. Kerrigan (Vincent: 79.00% - Kerrigan: 21.00%)
Round 2 – vs. Dante (Vincent: 54.00% - Dante: 46.00%)

Vincent made the Devil cry by beating him. He didn’t look to god-like though.

Squall
Round 1 – vs. Geno (Squall: 74.84% - Geno: 25.16%)
Round 2 – vs. Knuckles (Squall: 53.80% - Knuckles: 46.20%)

After the miraculous upset in Round 1, Knuckles falls to Squall, but puts up a fight.

Vincent: Yo…

Squall: Sup…?

Vincent: Nothin, man.

Squall: Nothing at all…

Well, this sure is an interesting match. Both characters have put up equal performances so far, making this match hard as diamond to call. Both destroyed their Round 1 opponents, but Vincent looked better doing it. People thought Kerrigan was going to be semi-strong, but instead, she turned out to be at the lowest rung of the ladder. Squall then came short of tripling Geno, which isn’t bad, I guess.

Vincent: Life sucks…

Squall: …whatever.

Vincent: …whatever.

When Round 2 came along, reality came back in with a hop, skip AND a jump. Dante put up a fight against Vincent, and ended with with 46% of the vote on the guy who many were calling a new elite, along with Tifa. This match brought him back down to Earth, and hard too. Squall had to face Knuckles, who had just gotten off a hot upset with Magus. Knuckles did good, and managed to pull up 46.2% of the vote on Squall. So both Vincent and Squall got similar results on their Round 2 opponents, but where does it go from there?

Vincent: I listen to goth music all day. It calms my burning hatred for the world.

Squall: …I don’t care.

Vincent: …whatever.

Who would you pick in a Dante vs. Knuckles match? It would be tough, but I think Dante is stronger than Knuckles. DMC3 and being a 1-seed has helped out Dante bring in the votes. Knuckles, while pretty decent himself, would come short of Dante. Now, I would have also picked Squall over Dante, if it should happen. That one would also be pretty close, so it all depends on if you think Squall is just that much stronger than Dante.

Vincent: Love is for losers…

Squall: Women are lame. Give me a good man any day.

Vincent: ……………………….whatever.

This match should be good, and have an awesome match pic. I’m going to say Vincent will pull out the narrow win. A lot of factors are going into this match though. Is Dante stronger than Knuckles and/or Squall? Will SFF play a role in this match? If it does, will it go to FF7 or FF8, Vincent or Squall? Only time will tell…

Moltar’s Bracket Says: Magus will win.

Moltar’s Prediction is: Vincent: 51% - Squall: 49%



Ulti’s Analysis

Dante 46% 45893
Vincent 54% 53882
99775

Knuckles 46.2% 45780
Squall 53.8% 53310
99090

Two almost identical polls that happened in the last round. In fact, it's scary how close those polls are. The catch for Squall is that for him to be stronger than Vincent according to those two polls, Knuckles would have to be stronger than Dante. Knuckles has had no real reason to increase over the past year, while Dante has had Devil May Cry 3 and a 1 seed. For Squall to win, he may have to rely on the old hero:villain ratio theory.

Of course, this is a match between FF7 and FF8. If Squall manages any SFF at all in this match, it would defy the laws of physics as we know it. Not to say that Squall doesn't have a chance or that the match won't be close, but I don't think he has a good chance of actually winning. I believe that Dante is clearly > Knuckles, and that's what I'm looking at in deciding who wins this match.

Prediction: Vincent with 52.46%

Soul’s Analysis

Round 2 Results

Vincent defeated Dante: 54% - 46%

Squall defeated Knuckles: 53.80% - 46.20%

The first entertaining match of the third round (and probably the only one that's supposed to be close) ends up in the crazy Devil Division. With upsets left and right, two of the strongest from this stacked division go toe-to-toe in what should be an amazing match.

Well, let's start this off with the 2 seed. Squall Leonhart started this year off with a somewhat "meh-ish" performance against Geno. But to tell you the truth, no one gave a damn about this match. We were all talking about the result that never should have happened in the match before. You know, how Knuckles COMPLETELY KILLED MAGUS!

Heh, sorry, felt I was lacking in the Magus teasing. Anyways, Squall became the favorite against Knuckles, but after Knux's miracle win against Magus, no one knew how he would perform. He managed to get 46.2% against Squall, which proves that Squall was underrated by most of Board 8. But, with those numbers against Knux, can he defeat Vincent?

Vincent, like Tifa, had a huge wakeup call in round 2. Both characters got huge round 1 blow-outs, but they were surprised by the strength of their second round opponents. Tifa struggled with Luigi, while Dante gave Vincent one hell of a scary match. Just goes to show that you shouldn't base contest strength by defeating fodder. With that said, he still got 54% on a buffed up Dante, so he's not weak.

Now then, since both characters got around 54% on their opponents, it all comes down to who is stronger between Knuckles and Dante. Past stats indicate that Dante is barely stronger then Knuckles. Of course, there is reason to believe that both characters increased from the last contest. Suddenly, that .2% more on Squall becomes somewhat more important. Assuming that Knuckles and Dante are even (which they very well could be), Vincent would barely defeat Squall. But, considering everything, this match looks to be a dead even, 50/50, could-go-anyway type of match.

Now, we have to decide who the casuals would choose in this situation. Squall, the main character from FF8, or Vincent, a side character from FF7. We know that FF7 is the more popular game on this site, but can a side character defeat the main hero from the other game? This match could tell us a few things.

1. If Vincent gets a blow-out win: It means that Square SFF is present, and it favors FF7.

2. If Vincent wins barely: It means that he's slightly more popular (OMG REALLY?!)

3. If Squall wins barely: It means that only the top 2 from FF7 (Cloud/Sephiroth) can defeat the near elite group. It also wouldn't look good for Tifa against Sonic

4. If Squall gets a blow-out win: It means that Squall is a powerhouse in this contest.

Me, I'm hoping Squall wins with 55% to make Knuckles look even better. But that's my bias coming into play here. But, like every match like this, I tend to never doubt the FF7 character, especially in what could be a 50/50 match, so I'm predicting Vincent wins. Let's hope I'm wrong.

My prediction: Vincent wins with 50.74% of the vote. My favorite match coming up next



Outback’s Analysis

Vincent impressed against Kerrigan, and failed to impress against Dante. Squall is impossible to place so far. So where is this match going? What I think has happened is that the Kingdom Hearts factor of 2003 is wearing off. We couldn't see this with Squall last year because he was placed in an SFF match, but I still believe it is true. Vincent, while not being the Elite that we thought after his thrashing of Kerrigan, is certainly an upper-tier character in these contests and will take out Mr. Whatever.

Vincent with 53.00%

Inviso’s Analysis

In my opinion, this division was the strongest overall. The four characters that made it past round 1, and one of the characters that lost in a close match, were all extremely powerful. If only Ceej had put some of these characters in other divisions, we might not have crappy weak matches like Master Chief/Donkey Kong. Anyway, Vincent nailed a blowout against a Starcraft character that was definitely overrated, and then went on to beat Dante in a close match. Squall is the contest veteran, who blew out Geno by not quite as much as Vincent did to Kerrigan, then beat Knuckles in a closer match than Vincent’s against Dante, after Knuckles upset Magus in round 1. Anyway, Vincent is from FFVII and Squall is from FFVIII. FFVII is more popular than FFVIII, and even though Vincent is optional, Squall isn’t exactly a loved character. There’ll be SFF in this match, but Squall will survive. He won’t win, but he won’t get killed.

My Bracket: Magus Zeal
My Vote: Vincent Valentine
My Prediction: Vincent Valentine with 55.89%



Tnote’s Analysis

Vincent will get SFFed, because the optional sidequest sidekick will not be syphoning votes from the lead protagonist anytime soon. Unless your name is Tidus. And that, folks, is all I have to say about that.

Pick: Squall with 54.83%



Leonhart’s Analysis


Ah, this is the moment I've been waiting for, Squall's chance to win a division and reach the Elite Eight. It definitely won't be easy though. Standing in his way is a fan favorite from Final Fantasy VIII's predecessor, Vincent Valentine. This has been touted as the only Sweet Sixteen match worth watching (of course, this was before Kirby shocked everyone by getting nearly 48% on Bowser, but I digress), and I hope it lives up to its billing.

In Vincent's defense, he certainly has a solid case in his favor to be able to win this match. The disappointing 54/46 victory over Dante gave Squall high hopes for being able to take the division if he could impress against Knuckles. He didn't. The two competitors put up nearly identical performances, so I guess it really boils down to whether Dante or Knuckles is stronger directly. The Devil May Cry star has had the advantage in recent years in the stats by a slim margin, but with his major upset victory over Magus in hand, it's possible that Knuckles might be a little stronger this year. Dante has reason to have gone up this year as well, but I certainly don't think he would defeat Knux by more than Squall did. This indicates that this match SHOULD be close as long as there's no SFF, and I don't think there will be. However, it's been difficult to get a reading on Squall for the past couple of years. He hasn't really quite lived up to expectations in his recent matches, but here's hoping we've underestimated his opponents. With Kirby showing himself to be a force this year, it might be possible.

Regardless of who the victor of this match is, I can't see either of them getting more than 53% when this is all said and done. The main thing this contest has lacked thus far is a true wire-to-wire nail biter, and I think this match can deliver. Squall should take the initial lead at the beginning of the poll, and Vincent should make his charge throughout the day. I think either character will be very hard pressed to have this match put away by nightfall. Rest assured, I'll be rooting for Squall through and through.

My prediction: Squall Leonhart with 52.04%

Haha, look! There are two guys who actually think Squall can win tomorrow! Do you believe that?!
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Devil Division Final: (5)Vincent Valentine

From: Slowflake | Posted: 9/9/2005 8:47:15 PM | Message Detail | #045
Yeah, but have you seen him bomb against Leon?

Yes, because we have so much data on Leon Kennedy that we can easily say that Mega bombed against him. And don't bring up Freeman, because he just had the biggest and most important release of his career. Half-Life 2 had to be one of the greatest games ever made, or the entirety of the fanbase would have been let down. Thankfully, the game didn't disappoint. It's more than possible for ol' Freeman to have gotten a good boost from that game.

Not that I think Mega will beat Sonic regardless, but you know, Lol X-stats and all that jazz.

~*ST*~
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Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
Currently Playing: Fire Emblem 8, Mario 64 DS, Advance Wars, Grim Fandango

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

The lack of faith for Squall is sad.

I'm going to stay up for this match.
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17 have challenged Nintendo in the handheld market, 17 have failed. (see quote for list)

Okay, someone convince me who to vote for, because I'm hopelessly torn here.
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Only the Snake is the true hero. Solid Snake to the Final Four!

How 'bout some Vincent for your voting urge?
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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.

Haha, look! There are two guys who actually think Squall can win tomorrow! Do you believe that?!

The second one is you, so you should know.
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Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent.

I say wait for the picture to be released.
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17 have challenged Nintendo in the handheld market, 17 have failed. (see quote for list)

I think Vincent was more impressive in Round 2, especially with the fact that Dante had a HUGE bracket advantage going for him.
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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."

Okay, someone convince me who to vote for, because I'm hopelessly torn here.

Well, Squall and Snake are a lot alike, so...
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Devil Division Final: (5)Vincent Valentine

Are they really?
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Board 8: Where people treat each other right.

Yes, they really are.
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Devil Division Final: (5)Vincent Valentine

I vote for Squall.
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Board 8: Where people treat each other right.

Vote for Squall so I don't get eliminated in the Guru contest. >_>
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Huh-CHA!

I like Squall much better, but my bracket has Vincent...
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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."

Eh, being 'Snake-like' is always a plus, but I like plenty of characters that are nothing like Snake over more people that fit his profile (ex. Raiden over most, Mario over nearly all, Sonic over most, et cetera).

Honestly, Vincent and Squall have always been pretty high up on my tier of likeability, but they're so damn close that my preference seems to change by the hour. Right now you could say that I might like Vincent a wee bit more than Squall, but that's like me saying I like MGS Snake over MGS2 Snake. >_< Inconsequential.

I also have Squall making the Elite Eight in my bracket, but I'm going to have to get that and virtually everything else right to even have a prayer of making the leaderboard, so that's looking kinda bad. But on the other hand I fear sprites in the next round with a passion, and have a fleeting hope that Vincent will somehow entice Ceej to stay away from sprites next round.

Argh. Dang it all.
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Only the Snake is the true hero. Solid Snake to the Final Four!

my bracket has magus -______-
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Sonic The Hedgehog's road to the best final possible:
Chaos divison finals (3) Tifa Lockheart

Crono and Chief are almost exactly alike, now that I think about it a little.

Really bad characters?

By the way, I'm not late with that zinger... at all.

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Explicit Content
Back on even a crappier name!