Ah, the board's back up. About time.

So can we finally conclude that Snake isn't severely hampered by bad sprites, like I've been saying all along?

This match projects him relatively close to his 2003 level.
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"A strong man doesn't need to read the future. He makes his own."
"Building the future and keeping the past alive are the same thing."

wow, what a sucky day for the boards to go out. go out on Samus/Yuri or something, not Bowser/Snake.

looking at Snake/Zelda, this was probably his worst time. he should hold on to this win unless the sprite picture matters so much that the day vote people have no idea who he is. I don't think that's the case at all.


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Bowser needs 45 votes/15 minute update to win. He has one update the entire match that has exceeded that (80, and another with 43). I don't think he can win, but he's doing pretty well for himself, and a little better than I expected.
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"It shall be engraved upon your soul! Divine Assault: Nibelung Valesti!" ~ Lenneth Valkyrie

Well Bowser's surprising. It seems he is indeed stronger than Zelda, though I think the pic is defiantly helping him some.

Dang, why'd I pick Bowser, is it even possible for this recent surge to carry through the rest of the day?
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Economic Left/Right: 7.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.26

Snake by the hour:
13:00 | 49.26%
12:00 | 50.43%
11:00 | 52.10%
10:00 | 52.40%
09:00 | 52.38%
08:00 | 50.63%
07:00 | 52.48%
06:00 | 51.29%
05:00 | 50.64%
04:00 | 50.39%
03:00 | 57.92%
02:00 | 55.93%
01:00 | 54.90%

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"It shall be engraved upon your soul! Divine Assault: Nibelung Valesti!" ~ Lenneth Valkyrie

whoa, what an update.

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.

This match definitely proves that Snake is weakened by sprites. I think this explains what happened with Frog.

CT characters do better with sprites, especially Frog and Magus.
Snake does worse with his sprite.
Forg had more support last year.
MGS3 has come out (which would give Snake at least a small increase).

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Magus screwed my bracket over. Yay!

Board's still going offline every now and then.

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2nd Place, Spring Contest 2005
World Champion: Gyruss, Mega Man X, Solstice, Super Mario World, Zombies Ate My Neighbors

That'll do Bowz. That'll do.

Great performance from the Koopa King today. I'm so happy he made it a match and didn't roll over ala Yoshi last round.
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Go ahead ********! Fire away! I've got a big turkey dinner here that says you don't have enough bullets to take down my hungry ***! ~ MG2 Run

Wow, I went to sleep at like 2:30 last night, and I just got back from classes to find a whopping 20 new posts in the stats topic due to the boards oddly being out almost the exact period of time I wasn't there. Maybe the boards need me?
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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

Snake shuts all the nay-sayers up. Yay!

Bowser is doing awesome today though, and that's good to see.
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RIP Samus: Mario, you better take down Seph.
Snake vs. Bowser - Bracket: Snake - Vote: Snake (84/104)

...who would take Solid Snake over Ganondorf if Solid got a normal picture of him?

Easily. I think Snake's proven what he set out to prove: no one outside the Noble 9 beats him this year.
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SC2K5 Guru Contest: Where _______ kicked my ass.

Damn! Bowser shaved off 100 votes in 5 minutes.

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“A pro isn’t someone who sacrifices themselves for a job. That’s just a fool.” – Reno

gotta love how Bowser's biggest update coincides with the boards coming back. this place is gonna go nuts if Bowser does that for a couple more updates.
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.

Holy crap, Bowser just cut 100 votes..

I'm Alan Alda!
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Ladies and Gentlemen
Mr. Alan Alda!

If Snake had a recognizable pic, It would be a 54-45 match basically.
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SC2K5 Favorites - Solid Snake, Kirby, Mario, Leon Kennedy.

I'm saying it right now: Bowser comes back.

I just had to get MGS in time for this match. As soon as I change my mind and want Snake to win, this happens.

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Magus screwed my bracket over. Yay!

whoa... 100 votes...

Please don't be votestuffing. Please be real. Please keep happening.
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moderation history: 9/19/04 to 8/28/05 - completely clean
8/29 to present - 12KL, 1NKL (as of now)

Anyone still bashing the people who thought Bowser didn't even have a chance in today's match??
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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."

That was an awful update for Snake and the most votes Bowser's gotten in a while.

And I'm not sure how this proves the sprite hurts Snake. This figured to be a close match.
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"A strong man doesn't need to read the future. He makes his own."
"Building the future and keeping the past alive are the same thing."

I don't trust that update for a damn second. Gaining, sure, but not like that.
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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.

If Snake had a recognizable pic, It would be a 54-45 match basically.

Who's the missing 1% for, CATS, Tanner?
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Economic Left/Right: 7.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.26

Bowser isn't going to win. That update was a fluke.
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"A strong man doesn't need to read the future. He makes his own."
"Building the future and keeping the past alive are the same thing."

Well, he won another update, but he only took off 13 votes that time. Bowser may comeback, but I don't think it'd be enough to win unless he pulls out more of those 100 vote gains.

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“A pro isn’t someone who sacrifices themselves for a job. That’s just a fool.” – Reno

God, it's gotta suck being the guy with an automatic disadvantage in the later rounds. My hat's off to Snake for winning matches against very respectable opponents while being burdened with completely unrecognizable pics.
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SC2K5 Guru Contest: Where _______ kicked my ass.

We'll see if the sprite hurt Snake when he goes up against Mario. If he significantly outperforms what this match projects there, then I think it's safe to say that the sprite hurts him.
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Only the Snake is the true hero. Solid Snake to the Final Four!

It's kinda strange how Squall was down 400 votes at this point in the match, and everyone said it was over.

Bowser's down 1800 votes, and people say he can come back.
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"A strong man doesn't need to read the future. He makes his own."
"Building the future and keeping the past alive are the same thing."

I switched my pick from Bowser to Snake at the last minute. Wonder if that was a mistake... Anyway I hope Snake wins.
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Summer Contest 2005 Current Points: 85

If Bowser does comeback, It will be because of cheating.
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SC2K5 Favorites - Solid Snake, Kirby, Mario, Leon Kennedy.

That update was a fluke more on Snake dropping in votes than on Bowser gaining. Bowser had a 321 and a 316 update before that...
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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."

Yeah, but that 320 update was like half an hour before. He had less than 300 the two updates surrounding the 340.
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"A strong man doesn't need to read the future. He makes his own."
"Building the future and keeping the past alive are the same thing."

Ah, solid update win for Snake.
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"A strong man doesn't need to read the future. He makes his own."
"Building the future and keeping the past alive are the same thing."

yeah, that update looked, well, wrong. I can't believe that was legit.

Leon, someone called the match for Squall when he was up 8 votes. the reason people are saying it's possible is because Bowser is cutting into the lead like that. Squall didn't do anything like that.

still, no one should call a match on a 400 vote lead unless the character is pulling a MC-esque day vote.
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.

Bowser isn't comming back, but he'll make it a damn close match.
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I once made a sig bet with TRE that Ganon wasn't actually over 31 on BL. The jury's still out on the pigman, but props to TRE 'cause I'm a believer again.

Snake just won that update I believe? Anyways, When Snake wins, Exspect me to make a brilliant topic to all the doubters.
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SC2K5 Favorites - Solid Snake, Kirby, Mario, Leon Kennedy.

Bowser won't come back. He might win some of the afternoon vote and early evening but Snake will finish strong.
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The only thing O.J. is guilty of is mercilessly slashing through all defenders to score touchdowns. - ImNotYou
Proud member of the Hylian Knights--83/104 in the 2k5 SC -- XBL GT: Vance Mendoza

Squall and Vincent had identical patterns so the one who had the advantage at that time would likely win. What with Snake tending to choke on the afterschool compared to most opponents, the differences in attitudes between comebacks is understandable.
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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

Yeah, very similar voting trends and fanbases made Vincent/Squall less likely to have an over-turning comeback. Of course, that didn't stop Kirby/Bowser from such, but it still makes it less likely.
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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 I'd love for Bowser to win, but even if he doesn't this match makes him look fantastic.

So good for Bowser.

Does this make him the strongest Non-Noble Nine'er?
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moderation history: 9/19/04 to 8/28/05 - completely clean
8/29 to present - 12KL, 1NKL (as of now)

If Snake gets a good pic, he could beat Mario.

Whenever Snake gets a good pic, he wins 55-45 =/.
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Summer 2005 Contest Score : 30/32
Rank : 42/33793 Today: Mario Tomorrow: Zero

Bowser and Ganondorf are pretty much the only near elites (34-36%) left. And Ganondorf got hit by SFF at least once, so Bowser is very likely to rank 10th.
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"It shall be engraved upon your soul! Divine Assault: Nibelung Valesti!" ~ Lenneth Valkyrie

Bowser Vs Ganondorf now.
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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

Does this make him the strongest Non-Noble Nine'er?

No, Ganondorf is.
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Only the Snake is the true hero. Solid Snake to the Final Four!

I'd still put Ganon over Bowser, but I guess he (Bowser) is going to end up in the Top 10.
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RIP Samus: Mario, you better take down Seph.
Snake vs. Bowser - Bracket: Snake - Vote: Snake (84/104)

After seeing what Mario did yesterday, I'd take Bowser over Ganondorf in a heartbeat.
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"A strong man doesn't need to read the future. He makes his own."
"Building the future and keeping the past alive are the same thing."

bowser needs to DIE, gah I hate him, he is one character that truly doesnt deserve how high ranked he is, plus he killed kirby, makes me mad@!
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- - -

Ganondorf wouldn't be performing nearly as well as Bowser in this match. Remember, if we want to make things nice and even, Ganondorf would have to deal with his crappy pig sprite - not quite Solid ****, but a far cry from his OoT art.
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SC2K5 Guru Contest: Where _______ kicked my ass.

Oh, I'd take Bowser OVER Ganondorf, but I wouldn't say he was indirectly stronger. Yeah, I'd bank on rSFF in that match. = /

Ick, I sounded stupid just saying that. = /
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Only the Snake is the true hero. Solid Snake to the Final Four!