GameFAQs Contests

Match XXIX: Grand Theft Auto IV vs. Persona 4 vs. Street Fighter IV vs. Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Information:

Name: Grand Theft Auto IV
Year: 2008
System: Xbox 360, PS3
GotY Performance: 2nd in Best Multi-Platform Game

Name: Persona 4
Year: 2008
System: PS2
GotY Performance: 1st in Best PS2 Game, 8th in Game of the Year

Name: Street Fighter IV
Year: 2009
System: Xbox 360, PS3
GotY Performance: N/A

Name: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Year: 2008
System: Wii
GotY Performance: 1st in Best Wii Game, 2nd in Game of the Year, 1st in Game of the Year (Final Vote), 1st in Game of the Year (Final, Final Vote)

Analysis

The final division is the current generation and is basically the 128-bit division of the previous contest. Expect many games to be close in strength due to not having enough time to ferment and have different levels of strength. Oddly enough this is a repeat from the 2008 Game of the Year awards with the only 2009 game being added. The same occurs in the next match except all games were released in 2007; maybe you should have mixed them up a bit SBAllen.

Being the winner of the 2008 Game of the Year gives Super Smash Bros. Brawl an advantage considering that these games weren’t even close in competition just a few months ago. Also while Street Fighter IV was hyped the game seemed to have quiet down relatively fast. Brawl was probably the most hyped game ever on GameFAQs, so it is to be expected that it wouldn’t live up to its hype. Still the game is solid and should be considered a favourite for advancing out of this division.

Persona 4 is a cult game and like many cult games it’s not expected to do that well. However over the past few days we’ve seen many games that were thought to be weak perform better than expected and with GTA and Street Fighter II not performing up to par I guess the possibility is there. I don’t see it happening and while it won the PS2 poll it received less than 50k votes and was crushed in the overall poll. It would take a major flop by both games for Persona 4 to place.

Over the past few matches Grand Theft Auto has been the talk of the boards being a part of three close matches. The board has never had much faith in the Grand Theft Auto series, but randomly decided to overrate them because of their love for Metroid Prime. Vice City and 3 both performed to expectations, while San Andreas was the only one that truly flopped. Unlike the other games Grand Theft Auto IV was all the rage for a month and then it went quiet. This was apparent in its performance in the Game of the Year and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the weakest Grand Theft Auto game in the contest.

Street Fighter IV replaced The World Ends With You which caused mass whining. From a bracket making perspective I thought this was the best change out of the six changes. Instead of giving Grand Theft Auto IV a free pass to round 2 it now has to fight its way. Had the match occur when the bracket was released I wouldn’t be surprised if Street Fighter IV won easily, but like Grand Theft Auto IV the game has quiet down pretty fast and watching Street Fighter II getting crushed by Sonic 1 isn’t good foreshadowing.

This is another match of who will flop the least. Maybe TWEWY could have placed after all; I guess we’ll never know. I don’t see Street Fighter IV retaining much of its initial strength when it was released a few months ago while I don’t see Grand Theft Auto IV dropping any more than what it was back in January. Brawl may actually look like a powerful game in this match.

charmander6000’s Bracket: Super Smash Bros. Brawl > Grand Theft Auto IV

charmander6000’s Prediction: Super Smash Bros. Brawl – 43.73%, Grand Theft Auto IV – 24.62%, Street Fighter IV – 21.29%, Persona 4 – 10.36%

To be honest, I think using the GotY polls isn't that great an idea since the fanbases are all over the place.
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"Here I go! Divine judgment for an evil soul! Sacred Penance! Rest in peace." - Estellise Sidos Heurassein, Tales of Vesperia

I'll take that bet, creativename.

Well I was hoping one of the people who'd been annoying about this would take the bet, but all right :)
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Incase you see this, I figured Creative had me ignored since he always says he ignored me cuz of my WoW rants, so no point doing a sig bet with someone who has me on ignore.
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/RyanSaotome/threesome.gif

Who'd been annoying?

I STARTED it.
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Want to help out a cult classic doomed to failure in this contest?
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=8&topic=49181355

I see Persona 4 talk is all the rage today.
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http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u205/MapleMasta/IkeClimbers2.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDaGWrPcjb8

Okay, so why is everyone adamant about calling SFII's performance a bomb? I mean, did you expect it to be a powerhouse or something? I've pointed out that Street Fighter games aren't liked at all by a good percentage of voters (30%+). A Street Fighter game just isn't going to be terribly strong on this site. And with such weak competition (Castlevania 3, Civilization), and with such a high play rate, Sonic 1 got a lot of those votes by default. It's performance is probably a bit inflated in that poll. Then on the other hand, you have Sonic 3 which folded to a Mario game and Metroid. We already know Sonic folds to Mario games (plus Sonic 3 legitimately might simply be the least popular of the Genesis trio), so I don't see why that's so surprising. Sonic 2 beat MKII and SoM fairly comfortably. I guess people look at how MKII did on Sonic 2 vs SFII's performance on Sonic 1, but again, default votes went to Sonic in that one.
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Currently playing: GTAIV, SSBB, MP3, Apollo Justice, FFIVDS, Dracula X

get your logic out of here
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http://card.mygamercard.net/geothermal/blue/Albion+Hero.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/RyanSaotome/threesome.gif

We expected it to beat Sonic. It not only failed to do that, it wasn't even all that close. It would be fine if Sonic turned out to be decently strong but Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 suggest that it isn't.
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Shall I take you with me? To the place in this town where wishes come true...

(plus Sonic 3 legitimately might simply be the least popular of the Genesis trio)

2 > 3 > 1 IMO
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Board 8 BOP: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/BGE2%20BOP.xls
BGE2 - Today's Match: LoZ: TP > HL2 Points: 77/108

Division 8: Round 1 - Match 29 – Grand Theft Auto IV vs. Persona 4 vs. Street Fighter IV vs. Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Moltar’s Analysis

GTA4
2004 Results: N/A

Great, another GTA game to stink up the place.

Persona 4
2004 Results: N/A

After watching other RPGs do well, does Persona stand a chance here?

SF4
2004 Results: N/A

son

SSBB
2004 Results: N/A

Peach top tier

I’m writing this after reading about 3 pages of Persona fanboyism in the stats topic let’s do this.

Brawl is the obvious first here. It didn’t impress in the GotY polls, but it has another chance to show off here. Considering how weak this fourpack looks, it should go to town.

So every GTA game flops and SF2 loses to Sonic which flopped in its other matches, so now the Persona fans (all 5 of them) see an opportunity for it to advance. Yeah, I don’t think so.

“Bubububut TALES” You shout, and I say that Tales is a good deal stronger than Persona 4, and Symphonia has proved it has decent strength before. Only similarity here is that it’s a RPG in a sea of…other games. Symphonia had the benefit of having a weaker four-pack of games and beat out the ones that aren’t exactly popular on GameFAQs (GoW and GTA never do well here). Unlike Symphonia, Persona is in same poll with a game that IS popular and liked on the site, the 2008 GotY Brawl, so it loses out on “hey i don’t like these games so I’ll just vote for the RPG” votes.

Plus, we’ve already seen in the GotY poll that most of the 20K voters that voted for Persona when there was nothing else noteworthy abandoned it easily just a few days later against real competition.

SF4 has a shot but it’s chances don’t look hot. SF4 polls from just a few months ago aren’t great, andI’ve already mentioned SF2. If GTA4 does even worse than the low expectations everyone has for it, then yes, SF4 will place. P4 advances if both bomb and Brawl just pulls up like 60%.

So I’m sticking with GTA (god what is wrong with me just hurt me more GTA). At least all the GTA games are able to pull in 20%+, and it is the most recent so that could do it some good. Only problem here is that GTA-backlash has been pretty strong. It could result in it bombing, but maybe the backlash is just overstated.

Moltar’s Bracket Says: SSBB > GTA4

Moltar’s Prediction is: SSBB: 47% - GTA4: 21% - SF4: 19% - Persona 4: 13%



Heroic Mario’s Analysis

First off, Brawl is going to kill this poll. It'll probably look better than it should because this competition is so weak. Don't be surprised if it's pushing 50% today.

Second, the fight to advance here is all about SFIV and GTAIV. The Persona fanboyz have started to gain some steam with Tales of Symphonia winning its match, and other 'cult classics' doing well, but for every Okami and SOTC, there's an Earthbound and a Phoenix Wright. I wouldn't count Persona out because the possibility of GTAIV and SFIV bombing is there, but it's so unlikely that you'd have to be a fanboy to predict it out of this group. The only thing supporting it advancing is Tales coming in second in its match.

The real fight for second should be between GTA and SF. Both of these series have been unimpressive so far, but I'd say GTA has been much worse. Sure, SFII bombed against Sonic, who later proved to not be that great, but GTA has managed to be unimpressive each and every time it shows up, with the sole exception being Vice City. I would have stuck with GTAIV here had San Andreas not completely bombed in its match, coming in last of all the games there. That tells me that GTA has taken a bigger dive here than anyone was expecting.

That means Street Fighter IV has a good shot. I don't expect it to be strong, or even on par with SFII, but I think it being the resurgence of Street Fighter, it selling well (over a million copies now), and it being received well will be enough to give it a slight edge over GTA. I could be wrong here, and it wouldn't surprise me, but I'll stick with the king of fighting games over a disappointing game in a fading series.

time for a shoryuken this competition

Smash Bros. Brawl -- 46%
Street Fighter IV -- 21%
Grand Theft Auto IV -- 20%
Persona 4 -- 13%

Bracket: Brawl > Street Fighter IV
Favorites: SFIV > Brawl



Lopen’s Analysis

Man... that last division really took a lot out of me. My analysis cred is all gone (though I guess that last match helped I love you Gordon Freeman), my bracket is shot. I'd like to just write crappy fanfiction and then post an Oracle prediction at the end. Is that acceptable? Come on, guys, you don't even read these things, right?

Anyway, if we had this match, say, in the first division, I have a feeling the predictions would be totally different than they'll be now. As it stands, I've gotta say here fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on you, fool me three times shame on you... but fool me four times shame on me. Only time GTA did well is when Metroid did worse, so I'm going to make my first correct pick with GTA, and I'm going to call for it to not advance. It has every reason to be the weakest GTA offering here, so it might even end up in last.

As for who to pick from the rest in this match of fours? I don't really like Persona's chances here. Tales of Symphonia at least had mass sales and a good GotY showing under its belt. (People could say Persona's was good too, but look what it was up against) STREET FITAH FOUR SON will take this pretty easy. Oh, and Brawl should disappoint here because of the backlash and whatnot, I'm calling for it. In fact, the Wii generation of Nintendo should be weaker overall than the beast we've been seeing from the older years divisions.

Lopen's Prediction:
Brawl – 35.15%
STREET FITAH FOUR SON! - 29.10%
Grand Theft Auto 4 – 20.10%
Persona 4 – 15.65%



Transience’s Analysis

Time for Brawl. Last time 'round, we saw Brawl go from a dominant performance to struggling with MGS4 and Fallout 3. Is this Brawl sucking it up (probably) or MGS4 and Fallout 3 being really strong?

This pack probably won't say too too much. GTA has been perceived to be bombing for years now - at this point it's so overrated that it's actually underrated. It's been anti-hyped so hard that you'd think a Speck of Dust could beat it. GTA may be weak compared to 2004, but it still beat other mid-tier releases last year with ease. It's not pathetic fodder or anything, just a low mid-tier game.

SF4 has looked even worse. Every SF4 poll has been bad; games not named SF2 look weak, and SF2 already looked bad. It could theoretically win over GTA based on franchise votes, but i expect those to go to Brawl; there's also the matter of the superior fighting game in the same match. Most of the site will go to the Nintendo fighter over the technical one.

Take these two disappointments and Board 8's most overrated game, Persona 4, gets talked up. I can sorta see why people are getting behind this: no one wants to trust GTA, Symphonia just beat San Andreas, Brawl's gonna rock this poll, and Persona 4 is a cool underdog.

But Persona 4 is just not that popular. This isn't Symphonia. This isn't Okami. This isn't even Phoenix Wright. This is a really obscure RPG. It's got a solid fanbase behind it -- one that managed to get it a whopping 5% in the 2008 GOTY. Check out that hardcore fanbase!!!!

I could see Persona getting third if SF4 bombs really hard. It is the one niche game in a sea of casual. But it's going to need Brawl to absolutely own this poll and the other two games to split absolutely evenly to even have a chance; you know, kinda like San Andreas/God of War/Oblivion did. I can't see Persona pulling this out.

And I hope it gets destroyed!

GTA's decent
strong enough to beat fodder
like Persona 4

transience's prediction:

Grand Theft Auto IV - 22%
Persona 4 - 11%
Street Fighter IV - 15%
Super Smash Bros. Brawl - 52%


Leon’s Analysis

Grand Theft Auto IV: I’m not really sure what to think of Grand Theft Auto IV here. It got rocked by Fallout 3 in the Multi-Platform GOTY poll, but Fallout 3 proved it was a pretty strong game in its own right. Maybe that’s not so bad. It’s looking like the GTA series is a solid midtier series at this point, based on how the other games have performed. That should be enough to get second place in this one because Street Fighter IV ain’t gonna be anywhere near Street Fighter II, which already stunk up the joint earlier. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if GTA IV gave SFII a fight, so get SFIV outta here.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4: This game isn’t going anywhere. It’s going to finish dead last by a long shot. It should have an interesting board vote though, given the fact that it’s Board 8’s new cult sensation. So basically everything interesting to see about this game will be over in 5 minutes.

Street Fighter IV: I actually have Street Fighter IV advancing in my bracket, but after Street Fighter II’s flop against the King of Floppers, I can’t continue that support! This is one of my most anticipated games to play once I get home, but already no one’s talking about it anymore! It just came and went, seems like. Of course, it seems like the same thing happened to GTA IV, so…Hopefully, there will still be PS3 Board 8 SFIV players to fight against in a couple of weeks! SFIV should be an easy third but probably a good ways off from GTA IV. Prove me wrong!

Super Smash Bros. Brawl: You want to talk about a game under serious scrutiny, Brawl is it. Along with Twilight Princess, Brawl was a game that was considered a disappointment because the hype lifted it up to a standard that was impossible to meet. Not to say I don’t like it. I like it better than Melee, in fact! I still don’t think it’s much weaker than SSBM either, despite the uninspiring GOTY performances. Fallout 3 has already beaten down GTA IV, which is looking to be the second strongest game in this match, and Brawl beat that, so expect SSBB to win with room to spare!

Leonhart’s Vote: Brawl all the way!

Leonhart’s Prediction:

Grand Theft Auto IV – 26.11%
Persona 4 – 7.70%
Street Fighter IV – 22.18%
Super Smash Bros. Brawl – 44.01%



Ed Bellis’s Analysis

Quicksies: I’m backing SF4 here over GTA4. Grand Theft Auto’s been tanking left and right lately – as I actually expected, but not to this extent – and while Street Fighter II kinda flopped, Street Fighter IV should be a whole ‘nother beast.

The real test for this match will be seeing how Brawl does, and how it thus compares to Melee.

That’s… about it, really!

Prediction: IN-DEEEEEEE-STRUCTIBLE
Grand Theft Auto IV with 16.16%
Persona 4 with 12.80%
Street Fighter IV with 30.99%
Super Smash Bros. Brawl with 40.05%

Guest’s Analysis - Luis_Sera89

Final division of the bracket, and its here that the recency really tells. Not just in the obvious sense, this being the 2007-09 division after all, but with the number of 'flavour of the month' games we'll be seeing. Titles like Left 4 Dead, Mass Effect and Team Fortress 2 are very good in their own right, but I doubt we'd be seeing them in a bracket 5 years down the line. With nothing to go on but GotY data, looks like we're banking on the tried and tested formula of picking GameFAQs favourite series again!

Todays hot new thing is Persona 4. Good showing last year bedamned, its niche fanbase won't be able to push it beyond 4th.

Brawl mops up in 1st. Not only is it the reigning GotY (take that how you will), but it has franchise power. With how GTA and SF have looked, they can't compete with raw Nintendo.

Which leaves the dilemma over 2nd! I have SFIV in my bracket, and GTA has been very hit and miss (and a small hit at that), but SFII was just awful against Sonic 2, and I don't see SFIV being too different strength-wise. Another tepid round 1 2nd place for that series I just don't 'get' then!

Brawl - 39.1%
GTA4 - 23%
SFIV - 22.7%
Persona 4 - 15.2%




Crew Consensus: Brawl > GTA4 is the slight majority, with Brawl > SF4 having 3 people supporting it.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles might be the best amongst core Sonic fans, but it simply doesn't have near the playrate as the others, especially as the full game S3&K. And if you're talking about Sonic 3 by itself, I don't think it was as popular as Sonic 2.
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Currently playing: GTAIV, SSBB, MP3, Apollo Justice, FFIVDS, Dracula X

I'm calling it. Brawl isn't getting 50% or above.
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The Straight Up G
The Palace of Wisdom Hardcore Legend and Board 8er Masa/Hiko

I'm calling it. Brawl isn't getting 50% or above.

GTAIV isn't that fail, so unless you think SFIV is going to flop hard it's probably not going to happen.
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Board 8 BOP: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/BGE2%20BOP.xls
BGE2 - Today's Match: LoZ: TP > HL2 Points: 77/108

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

....what in the world happened in this topic? Persona 4 will be distant last place. I doubt it has a prayer of breaking 10%.
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`·.,¸¸,.·´¯`·.,¸¸,.~*ST*~.,¸¸,.·´¯`·.,¸¸,.·´
"ToS reminds of my mother. It goes down a lot after 1:00 AM." -GrapefruitKing

If persona 4 loses, it'll be the first time since DW3 that t he only RPG in a match didnt advance
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From: UltimaterializerX | #319
....what in the world happened in this topic? Persona 4 will be distant last place. I doubt it has a prayer of breaking 10%.

You wanna account bet it breaking 10%?
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http://card.mygamercard.net/geothermal/blue/Albion+Hero.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/RyanSaotome/threesome.gif

I guess you aren't THAT confident in it not breaking 10% ;)
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http://card.mygamercard.net/geothermal/blue/Albion+Hero.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/RyanSaotome/threesome.gif

I'll give it 10%, but I dunno how much more than that.
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Prototype
Shorthand, do you speak it?!

Persona should do quite well with the board vote and then pull a Phoenix Wright. Brawl should do well with the board vote and power hour, but even better in the day.

SF will probably be even worse with the day than GTA. Surprisingly GTA might be the 2nd best day game here. Brawl will wreck the day though.
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gamefaqscontests.com
gamefaqscontests.com/gallery

Grand Theft Auto IV 0%

0
Persona 4 26.32%

5
Street Fighter IV 15.79%

3
Super Smash Bros. Brawl 57.89%

11
TOTAL VOTES 19

lol gta
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Moltar Status: ahh, there you are
Match 29 - Bracket: SSBB > GTA4 - Vote: SSBB (77/112)

Grand Theft Auto IV 0%

0
Persona 4 10%

1
Street Fighter IV 30%

3
Super Smash Bros. Brawl 60%

6
TOTAL VOTES 10
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I, like clockwork, have been humiliated by hochiminh
Hochiminh is better than me. I was a numbskull for thinking I could defy Him.

go go go P4 board vote
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Today's prediction: Brawl, SON 42.42% - GTAIV, SON 23.73% - Street Fighta 4, SON 21.53% - PerSONa 4 12.32%
Status:

that sf4 board vote is bad
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/RyanSaotome/threesome.gif

Grand Theft Auto IV 8.33%

3
Persona 4 27.78%

10
Street Fighter IV 13.89%

5
Super Smash Bros. Brawl 50%

18
TOTAL VOTES 36
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I am absolute corruption.
Pokemon Platinum FC: 1934 6546 0293

Holy **** Brawl board vote
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I, like clockwork, have been humiliated by hochiminh
Hochiminh is better than me. I was a numbskull for thinking I could defy Him.

oh my....
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Be a good little washing machine, now... o_0
The Ohio State University: We are so much better than m*ch!g@n.

Haha. Brawl'd

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a metal slime appears

Grand Theft Auto IV 12.5% 7
Persona 4 26.79% 15
Street Fighter IV 10.71% 6
Super Smash Bros. Brawl 50% 28
TOTAL VOTES 56

Well, at least we were able to see Persona in 2nd at one point!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDaGWrPcjb8

holy BRAWL

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http://thengamer.com/guru/

Grand Theft Auto IV 16.5% 33
Persona 4 19.5% 39
Street Fighter IV 11% 22
Super Smash Bros. Brawl 53% 106
TOTAL VOTES 200

Street Figher 4 looking really bad right now.
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Link he come to town to win the Gamefaqs Contests.

god damn you are weak SF4
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/RyanSaotome/threesome.gif

LET'S DO THIS JIRAIYA!

HELL YES!
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The Straight Up G
The Palace of Wisdom Hardcore Legend and Board 8er Masa/Hiko

So...people hate Brawl, huh?
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http://www.court-records.net/animation/phoenix-superobjection.gif

Yeah, Persona's not doing anything.
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Demyx is better than Axel.

lol street fighta 4, SON

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3473&region=SAM
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3473&region=ASI

FFXII > LoZ: TP
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Board 8 BOP: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/BGE2%20BOP.xls
BGE2 - Today's Match: SSBB > GTAIV Points: 81/112

game

let's go Brawl, don't bomb after the first few minutes like Melee
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xyzzy
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/7033/trannyanalysis.png

So uh ... Ryu > Street Fighter?

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Awaiting Final Fantasy XIII

bubububububut TALES
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Moltar Status: ahh, there you are
Match 29 - Bracket: SSBB > GTA4 - Vote: SSBB (77/112)

Brawl falling back to earth. Looks like my Oracle might not be all bad.
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I, like clockwork, have been humiliated by hochiminh
Hochiminh is better than me. I was a numbskull for thinking I could defy Him.

And this should be Persona's best time, and GTA's worst. I'd say GTA's got this.
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http://www.court-records.net/animation/phoenix-superobjection.gif

D/P > Galaxy go go go
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Be a good little washing machine, now... o_0
The Ohio State University: We are so much better than m*ch!g@n.

Why did we replace TWEWY with this sack of crap again

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http://thengamer.com/guru/

Asia delivers once again I see

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a metal slime appears

Well GTA4 looks good to advance, and P4 may still place 3rd
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/RyanSaotome/threesome.gif