GameFAQs Contests

Division 1: Round 2 - Match 34 – Super Mario Bros. vs. Ninja Gaiden vs. The Legend of Zelda vs. Metroid

Moltar’s Analysis

Super Mario Bros.
Round 1 - 70.54% vs. Ninja Gaiden, Duck Hunt and Galaga

Wow, 70% in four-ways.

Ninja Gaiden
Round 1 - 12.58% vs. Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt and Galaga

You know it’s sad when 12.58% gets you into Round 2.

Legend of Zelda
Round 1 - 61.28% vs. Metroid, Contra and Dragon Warrior III

Zelda has no problems with this group.

Metroid
Round 1 - 18.63% vs. Legend of Zelda, Contra and Dragon Warrior III

The Metroid fans are able to keep it from getting SFF’d hard enough to lose in R1.

I have Zelda 1 > SMB in my bracket. It’s obvious that these two are the strongest games in the division, and I figured the Zelda series is stronger than the SMB series, so it would win the battle of the firsts here.

Now that we’ve seen them both in action, the match is a lot more questionable. Both sides have valid reasons to beat the other. Here’s what I’ve gathered.

Advantages for Super Mario Bros.
- SMB gets respect
- IT’S FREAKIN’ MARIO
- SMB has a higher playrate
- Booker T: RESPECT!!
- SMB3 vs. Zelda 1 - 57% to 43%, and SMB may not be that much weaker than 3.
- IT’S
- 70% in Round 1, beat expectations
- FREAKIN’
- http://img.imgcake.com/respekknuckles.jpg
- MARIO

Advantages for The Legend of Zelda
- ZELDA
- Likely is stronger indirectly
- ZELDA
- 61% on stronger pack, lived up to expectations
- GANONDORF
- King of Nintendo SFF, usually beats Mario
- LINK
- Series preferred by the younger generation, which helps if it’s close.
- TINGL-…ZELDA
- Swordz


Clearly, there is no clear winner here. Clearly.

Since a coin-flip just sounds too unprofessional, I guess I’ll stick with my bracket here. Zelda feels like the safe bet and if it comes down to Zelda vs. Mario, Zelda wins that. I wouldn’t be surprised to see SMB win here though, as it’s one of the most respected games in the bracket, and if any game can make a voter go, “These other games are good, but man, I can’t vote against _________.”, it’s Super Mario Bros.

Moltar’s Bracket Says: LoZ > SMB

Moltar’s Prediction is: LoZ: 42% - SMB: 40% - Metroid: 11% - Ninja Gaiden: 7%



Heroic Mario’s Analysis

Here's one of the more anticipated matches of round 2, and probably the one that determines how the rest of this division plays out.

First off, let's get Ninja Gaiden and Metroid out of the way -- these two are total non-factors in this match. You could argue which game Metroid hurts more by being here, but I don't think it makes much difference unless the result is super close and Metroid takes up around 10%, then you could make a case that one game might have been hurt worse than the other. Still, trying to make that argument beforehand is sketchy at best.

The real meat of this match, and the division, is what happens between Mario and Zelda. I'm not sure who all favors what right now; it seems fairly split down the middle with good arguments on both sides. You have Mario 1 being the game that's aged better, is in more people's minds (NSMB), has the 'respect' vote for saving the game industry, and has a nearly 100% play rate. On the other hand, you have Zelda, a series that's on the top of the food chain as far as the Nintendo pecking order goes; also has been widely played; and scored about 43% on Super Mario Bros. 3 back in 2k4. Not a bad resume.

It's a tough choice, but my gut tells me that Mario 1 is going to take this. It's not necessarily because of their round 1 performances, but just because Mario feels right here. If you ask people which game they prefer between the two, I think most would say SMB. It's classic in every sense of the word, is still very playable and fun today, and has very few people who don't like it. The only thing I worry about here is that franchise voting could make all the difference, and I can see people siding with Zelda 1 just because it's Zelda.

Then again, the ol' 'IT'S FREAKING MARIO' probably applies here more than it does to any other Mario game. This should be a fun match, and whoever wins it shouldn't be by much more than 5% or so. I took Zelda in my bracket, but I'm gonna side with Mario here, partly out of favoritism, partly because the arguments for it make a little more sense. Plus, Zelda hasn't exactly lit this contest on fire so far -- but then again, Galaxy just got stomped by Call of Duty 4, so who knows!

Super Mario Bros. -- 43%
Legend of Zelda -- 39%
Metroid -- 11%
Ninja Gaiden -- 7%

Bracket: Zelda 1 > Mario 1
Favorites: Mario 1 > Zelda 1



Lopen’s Analysis

After seeing yesterday's debacle, I realize that this match is going to be all about one thing: Respect, and overall playrate. As I see it, not enough NES gamers still exist on this site. I'd expect, at most, 70% of the site has been exposed to the NES at this point, emulators included. Therefore, to a point it's not really about which game people like, but rather, which game people know and respect.

So while Legend of Zelda is Zelda... I think Super Mario Brothers 1 will have it trumped here. I mean... SMB1 pretty much made console gaming, and while I doubt more than 75% of the site has played it in this day and age, it's enough to trounce Legend of Zelda and these other two scrubs rather easily.

Respect and playrate. SMB1 will win both of these categories with authority, and this'll be enough to win the match. That 30% swing vote goes to SMB1 in overwhelming fashion, and makes what you might expect to be a close match on paper an Ulti-style blowout in practice.

Lopen's Prediction:
SMB1 – 45.09%
Legend of Zelda – 33.35%
Metroid – 13.57%
Ninja Gaiden – 7.99%



Transience’s Analysis

I've got a funny feeling about Mario here.

I feel like the average gamer is more familiar with Mario 1 than Zelda 1. I feel like the average gamer thinks Mario 1 has aged better than Zelda 1. (I disagree by far, but I can't deny that most people feel Zelda's come a long way while Mario is pretty much the same as it's ever been.) I know that most people feel Mario 1 is more important and influential than Zelda 1. Mario 1 just strikes me as being more popular at this point than Zelda. I get this odd feeling that it might outdo Mario 3's 2004 performance just because Zelda 1 is not something modern gamers are that into.

Then there's the facts: that huge 70% performance in round 1. Zelda's was similarly big but I didn't expect Mario 1 to be able to go that high. There's Mario 1 doing better than Zelda 1 on The List. Metroid 1 probably overlaps with Zelda 1 more than Mario 1. (though this doesn't matter much.) I think the biggest one, though, is that I picked Zelda 1 in my bracket because I couldn't picture two equal Mario and Zelda titles going to Mario. But after seeing Zelda games actually falter in round 1 of this contest, I feel better and better about Mario 1 being able to stand up and win. It just strikes me as more logical.

I'm looking forward to this one! go Zelda

transience's prediction:

Metroid - 10%
Ninja Gaiden - 8%
Super Mario Bros. - 44%
The Legend of Zelda - 38%

Leonhart’s Analysis

Super Mario Bros.: Here’s one of my most anticipated round 2 matches right here. Seeing how the progenitors of the two biggest Nintendo franchises will fare against one another will be interesting. In terms of series, Zelda has the edge, BUT we’ve already seen that the namesake along won’t cut it. SMB1 and Zelda 1 have proven that they have legit strength after we’ve watched Yoshi’s Island, Galaxy, Majora’s Mask, and Wind Waker perform poorly in round one. I’m taking Mario 1 for the win here. These are basically THE Nintendo games after Mario 3, so you couldn’t ask for a better heavyweight duel this early. I think Mario 1 can edge out Zelda 1 due to the respect factor. Yeah, I’m playing the “It’s friggin’ MARIO 1!” card. What are you gonna do about it? Laugh if I’m wrong? Well, yeah, I guess.

Ninja Gaiden: Mario 1, Zelda 1, Metroid 1, Ninja Gaiden. Which of these games does not belong? Yeah, this one. I mean, it could barely get 10% when Mario 1 was the only game worth anything in the match. How low will it get when you’ve got two high midcard NES games and a decent NES game? Yeah, this is gonna get ugly.

The Legend of Zelda: I’m thinking Zelda 1 is the favorite here in the Guru, and it probably will be with the Crew as well. I can’t blame anyone for picking it. It’s got a lot in its favor. It’s already a proven commodity with 43% on Mario 3, which I can’t say for certainty Mario 1 could do indirectly. However, I bet it would be close. I’d pick Mario 1 over FFI, which managed to nab 40% on Mario 3 itself, so you’ve got those three games in the same general range. Man, how awesome would it be to have Mario 1, Zelda 1, and FFI in the same match? That match would be nuts. Anyway, I’ve already said I’ve got Zelda 1 taking second, but this match should be good. Don’t make this one boring by SFFing Mario 1 now!

Metroid: Can a double-SFF’d Metroid still beat Ninja Gaiden? That’s the only question worth considering in this match? I say yes because who seriously votes for Ninja Gaiden in this situation? Zelda 1 and Mario 1 are going to be taking up 80-85% of the votes by themselves, I’d wager, so you’re just getting down to the hardcore of the hardcore fans of both games. I figure Metroid’s got more of them in this situation. But it’d be nice to have another Persona 4/Street Fighter IV all-day, back-and-forth girl-slap fest between two games struggling for 10%!

Leonhart’s Vote: *whistles Mario Bros. theme*

Leonhart’s Prediction:

Super Mario Bros. – 42.44%
Ninja Gaiden – 3.75%
The Legend of Zelda – 42.40%
Metroid – 11.41%



Ed Bellis’s Analysis

This match comes down to who wins in the battle between Mario 1 and Zelda 1. Let’s analyze their respective R1 performances:
- Super Mario Bros. put up 70 percent against Duck Hunt, Galaga and Ninja Gaiden, a performance IIRC matched only by Mario 3.
- The Legend of Zelda put up 61 percent against Contra, Dragon Warrior III and Metroid.

The question isn’t necessarily which four-pack is stronger (Correct answer: both suck) but rather how each game holds up against the other. Franchise voting seems more rampant among older games than newer ones, presumably because fewer votes have actually played the games in question, so if that holds true, Zelda’s the horse to bet on.

But… call me crazy (HEY YOU SO CRAZY), but I’m gonna be backing Super Mario Bros. I have absolutely nothing to support this except the tattered shreds of my bracket, so… yeah. >_>

…and now I see that pretty much the entire Crew went with SMB too. WHAT THE CRUNK IS THIS

Prediction: SORRY
Super Mario Bros. with 40.53%
Ninja Gaiden with 7.00%
The Legend of Zelda with 38.09%
Metroid with 14.38%

Guest’s Analysis - Luster Soldier

First round performance

Super Mario Bros. - 1st place with 70.54%
Ninja Gaiden - 2nd place with 12.58%
Eliminated - Duck Hunt (3rd place with 10.61%) and Galaga (4th place with 6.26%)

The Legend of Zelda - 1st place with 61.28%
Metroid - 2nd place with 18.63%
Eliminated - Contra (3rd place with 12.70%) and Dragon Warrior III (4th place with 7.40%)

This shall be our first good round 2 match, to see how Mario 1 stacks up against Zelda 1. We know that Mario 1 and Zelda 1 will be advancing, but in what order? Either possibility has a very fair chance of happening and I'm expecting the rest of the Crew to be somewhat split on this match, but who knows.

Pre-contest, our expectations of Mario 1 was that it would be significantly weaker than Mario 3, much like how Zelda 1 would be a lot weaker than OoT. This was based on an old "favorite Super Mario game" poll:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=1010

This was hosted on 9/9/2002, just about 2 weeks after Super Mario Sunshine was released. So it overperformed, being a new game then. When a similar poll was run on 2/27/2003, Super Mario Sunshine dropped in strength since the 9/9/2002 poll, but still beat Mario 1. I'd clearly take Mario 1 to beat Super Mario Sunshine if another "favorite Super Mario game" poll was ever re-run.

The "favorite Super Mario game" polls are so unreliable in getting a read on Mario 1's strength before we had yet to see it in action. Mario 1 was stuck behind a lot of SFF and even lost to Super Mario Sunshine, the newest Mario game at the time. I am hesitant to use very old polls to judge a game's strength, simply because voter preferences could have changed between then and now.

Once Mario 1 killed its fourpack, it was clear that it is a powerhouse whose strength came very close to that of Mario 3. Mario 1's performance made me more confident in the Mario 1 > Zelda 1 upset, but it was still too early to call this one in Mario's favor. I wanted to wait until the Mario 3 and Zelda 1 matches occured so I can use those two matches as reference points to see where Mario 1 would stand against Zelda 1. The final vote totals for the Mario 3 and Zelda 1 matches were off by less than 150, so I could use the number of votes Mario 3 and Zelda 1 got in their matches to get a rough estimate of how a Mario 3/Zelda 1 match would turn out today.

Super Mario Bros. 3 55.28% 89416
The Legend of Zelda 44.72% 72325

Mario 3 dropped a bit from the 56.78% it had 5 years ago. Not exactly going to convince me that Zelda 1 > Mario 1 will occur here.

Mario 3 had 75.85% on the weakest fourpack in the bracket. Mario 1 broke 70% on a slightly tougher fourpack. Ninja Gaiden > Monkey Island, Duck Hunt > SimCity, and I suppose Tecmo Super Bowl and Galaga are about equal. The real question is what you think Mario 1 would get when put in the position of Mario 3 instead. Against SimCity/Tecmo/Monkey Island, I'd take Mario 1 to break 73% on these chumps. This places Mario 1's strength very close to that of Mario 3. The Mario 1 match got about 3000 votes less than the Zelda 1 match. Supposing the vote totals for the Mario 1 match were readjusted to be the same as the Zelda 1 match while maintaining Mario 1's 70.54% with the higher vote totals, this means that Mario 1 has 83265 votes instead of 81024. Readjusting the vote totals on Mario 1 was the best way to get a good comparison as to where it stands against Zelda 1. Here's what Mario 1/Zelda 1 would look like now:

Super Mario Bros. 53.52% 83265
The Legend of Zelda 46.48% 72325

Zelda 1 should do slightly better than the 46% you see there as it had a slightly tougher fourpack than Mario 1 had. Mario 1 could probably put up 50-51% on Zelda 1 directly. I'm picking the Mario 1 > Zelda 1 result based on this.

Though quite meaningless as neither game will advance, the fight for third place is between Metroid and Ninja Gaiden. Even with SFF, Ninja Gaiden should not finish in third. Mario/Zelda should have the power to SFF other NES games, which pretty much kills any chance of Ninja Gaiden finishing in third.

Luster Soldier's bracket (and pick): Super Mario Bros. > The Legend of Zelda

Luster Soldier's prediction:
Super Mario Bros. - 40.54%
Ninja Gaiden - 7.45%
The Legend of Zelda - 40.09%
Metroid - 11.92%



Crew Consensus: SMB > Zelda I is a bigger majority than I would have imagined. Moltar is the only one with Zelda > SMB!

The Extreme wouldn't be anywhere near Dancing Mad and especially One Winged angel
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SMB gets the board vote here I think.
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Zelda's going to rock the day vote like it did against SMB3, so don't worry if it's not doing so well at first.
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Link he come to town to win the Gamefaqs Contests.

Actually Metroid might "get the board vote" in the sense that it's the one that benefits the most, then drops the entire rest of the match.

I think SMB's early vote is relatively better than LoZ's though. SMB looks like a consistent game, while LoZ is more day oriented.

SMB:
http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/images/poll_graph.php?matchnum=3448&type=2&seconds=60&max=0
LoZ:
http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/images/poll_graph.php?matchnum=3449&type=2&seconds=60&max=0
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gamefaqscontests.com
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SMB gets the board vote here I think.

Hard for me to say here, because the Power Hour is American dominated and Zelda is only slightly more popular than SMB here, but by a very small margin. In the rest of the world, SMB is more popular than Zelda. Though I'm going to be voting for SMB here.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but still not as cool as FastFalcon05, Guru Champ!

Zelda and Mario 1 both had awful board votes last time, but that may be due to the "Obvious first place, debatable second place" thing.
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http://www.court-records.net/animation/phoenix-superobjection.gif

Zelda's going to rock the day vote like it did against SMB3, so don't worry if it's not doing so well at first.

I'm rooting for SMB but voting for LoZ :)
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From: red sox 777 | #208
Zelda's going to rock the day vote like it did against SMB3, so don't worry if it's not doing so well at first.

That was also a monday. Day trends are kinda weird on Sundays.
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http://blog.codefront.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/lucky_star_i_am_a_tank_thumb.jpg

Yeah, but the winner of the day vote never changes depending on whether it's a weekend or weekday, just the degree of the shift. Besides, that match was on Memorial Day apparently.
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Link he come to town to win the Gamefaqs Contests.

I feel like Mario might win this like 50%-30%.
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xyzzy
"Actually, fire didn't make Sephiroth awesome. Sephiroth made fire awesome." -Karma Hunter

The result of the match isn't going to change just because it's a weekend. The trends are just more or less pronounced.
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I feel like Zelda might win this like 50%-30%.
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In-de-structable. Nothing's gonna stop me now.
http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w333/usagiaruku/1224857053726.jpg

I'm calling 45-35% Mario win. I just can't see Zelda keeping up with the game that is the reason Nintendo became as big as it is.
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http://blog.codefront.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/lucky_star_i_am_a_tank_thumb.jpg

sff beatdown here we come
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Moltar Status: complete global saturation
Match 34 - Bracket: Zelda > SMB - Vote: Zelda (95/136)

I feel like Zelda might win this like 50%-30%.

Me too!
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Link he come to town to win the Gamefaqs Contests.

First big showdown of the contest, here we go!
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http://www.court-records.net/animation/phoenix-superobjection.gif

Zelda wins!
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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.

Vote Accepted
Super Mario Bros. 45.45%

5
Ninja Gaiden 0%

0
The Legend of Zelda 45.45%

5
Metroid 9.09%

1
TOTAL VOTES 11

let's go
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Moltar Status: complete global saturation
Match 34 - Bracket: Zelda > SMB - Vote: Zelda (95/136)

Super Mario Bros. 50%

11
Ninja Gaiden 0%

0
The Legend of Zelda 36.36%

8
Metroid 13.64%

3
TOTAL VOTES 22

END THE MATCH
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http://www.court-records.net/animation/phoenix-superobjection.gif

aww yeah mario board vote
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http://blog.codefront.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/lucky_star_i_am_a_tank_thumb.jpg

well

next match, please
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Today's prediction: SMB 41.57% - Zelda 39.53% - Metroid 11.62% - Pirate Gaiden 7.28%
Status:

Today's Contest Image submitted by MK8 (all four)
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`·.,¸¸,.·´¯`·.,¸¸,.·´¯`·.,¸¸,.~*ST*~.,¸¸,.·´¯`·.,¸¸,.·´`·.,¸¸,.·´
"You are the king of derailing topics, by the way." -Lucid

whoops
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xyzzy
"Actually, fire didn't make Sephiroth awesome. Sephiroth made fire awesome." -Karma Hunter

Super Mario Bros. 56.67% 17
Ninja Gaiden 0% 0
The Legend of Zelda 30% 9
Metroid 13.33% 4
TOTAL VOTES 30

SMB gets the really early voters.
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Link he come to town to win the Gamefaqs Contests.

Haha wow Metroid/Ninja Gaiden

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a metal slime appears

From: UltimaterializerX | #227
Today's Contest Image submitted by MK8 (all four)

this guy loves submitting images
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http://www.xboxlc.com/cards/blue2/Albion%20Hero.jpg
http://blog.codefront.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/lucky_star_i_am_a_tank_thumb.jpg

Haha, this one's already over.

LOL Metroid and Contra combining for 12%! Even worse than I thought!
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Aw yeah IT'S FREAKING MARIO 1
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Mustache...and Green...
http://backloggery.com/rpguy96

lol, I was refreshing the poll, and one point I saw LoZ and SMB tied. The next refresh Zelda hadn't gained one vote while SMB gained like 15.
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Donkey Kong Country 2's path to Best Game Ever '09.
Not even 10%? What is wrong with you people? At least SMRPG and Goldeneye moved on.

also, god you suck, Metroid
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Today's prediction: SMB 41.57% - Zelda 39.53% - Metroid 11.62% - Pirate Gaiden 7.28%
Status:

mario fear
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Super Mario Bros. 48.73% 77
Ninja Gaiden 5.7% 9
The Legend of Zelda 38.61% 61
Metroid 6.96% 11
TOTAL VOTES 158

Whoa Mario
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http://fc93.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/026/9/3/Ike_Climbers1_by_MGSFan4ever.png
Thanks Anagram!

...This isn't even going to be close.

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http://thengamer.com/guru/

Quick, time to jump to unwarranted conclusions and try to call this under a minute in.

SMB has got this.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
SC2k6 (190/240) 99.4958 Percentile

God damn, Metroid is getting MURDERED by Mario/Zelda SFF.
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Today's Subliminal Thought Is:

Mario rout incoming! Jeeze, what a crappy pic SBallin' took for Zelda! Mario got THE pic, while Zelda got...meh.

This is ugly. Damn it.
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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.

Mario domination right here.

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a metal slime appears

IT'S FREAKIN' MARIO > ZELDA confirmed
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Moltar Status: complete global saturation
Match 34 - Bracket: Zelda > SMB - Vote: Zelda (95/136)

It might be close between Contra and Metroid!
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Mustache...and Green...
http://backloggery.com/rpguy96

awww ya go smb, zelda 1 sucks
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Nominate Red XIII for the Character Battle VII!
He's the Lion with a fire tail from Final Fantasy VII.

From: KamikazePotato | #238
...This isn't even going to be close.

Did people think it would be?
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http://www.xboxlc.com/cards/blue2/Albion%20Hero.jpg
http://blog.codefront.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/lucky_star_i_am_a_tank_thumb.jpg

This makes Contra and Doom and all the other games that failed to advance with LFF help look like utter ****.
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`·.,¸¸,.·´¯`·.,¸¸,.·´¯`·.,¸¸,.~*ST*~.,¸¸,.·´¯`·.,¸¸,.·´`·.,¸¸,.·´
"You are the king of derailing topics, by the way." -Lucid

Wait, did I say "unwarranted"? Maybe not!
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
SC2k6 (190/240) 99.4958 Percentile

Was MK8 seriously the only person to submit any pics for this match? If I had submitted a decent picture, I'd be kind of pissed.
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Donkey Kong Country 2's path to Best Game Ever '09.
Not even 10%? What is wrong with you people? At least SMRPG and Goldeneye moved on.