GameFAQs Contests

Stars and Turds of Round 2: Hyrule and Chaos Divisions

Star of the Divisions – The Boss
Despite winning an upset over Nathan Drake the board blamed that on Nathan being weak rather than The Boss having strength, pair that with WCC’s massive win over Sandal and the board was expecting a 60/40 beat down. The Boss on the other hand held out really well and even put a scare into the cube at the beginning of the match. I guess you can blame that on the lack of contest exposure The Boss has had so far.

Runner-up – Ken
There was a lot of debate of whether or not Wesker boosted or Ken really was that weak. In the end Ken put up very decent numbers on Ganondorf and was even able to use the California ASV to cut into Ganondorf’s percent. Ken has an excellent argument of being the second strongest Street Fighter character and he was a worthy choice in our returner’s tournament.

Turd of the Divisions – Altair
Altair was coming off of a 60/40 win over Liquid Snake. I know Liquid Snake is pretty crazy in terms of staying at a constant strength, but there is only so weak Liquid can be, right? Vivi ended up making Altair almost as weak as Donkey Kong and while that is a decent boost comparing to what he was at last year the performance he did on Liquid really brought up people’s expectations. I guess we should have seen this coming when Ezio flopped against Simon.

Runner-up – Mega Man X
It was easier to make an excuse for Mega Man X last round because Price was a new character and maybe he had strength based on the popularity of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. This round he had no excuse. Through Ocelot it seems that Mega Man X is notably weaker than the original form. Sadly we won’t get to see Mega Man X true strength next round because of Link, but I think the damage is done.

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Board 8 BOP: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/CB8%20BOP.xls
Character Battle VIII - 99/124 - Today's Winners: Ness and Tifa

Finally decided to go fix the poll start times page.
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~*ST*~
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Gordon Freeman (2006c) VS Vincent (2006c)

Gordon Freeman has a strength of 25.36.
Vincent has a strength of 37.09.

Vincent wins with 65.81% of the vote!
A win of 39,039 with 123,442 total votes cast.

lol tifa?

Or rather, tifail?
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"Like Darth Maul, the bastard child of Michael Flatley and Hellboy" - trancer1

Stars and Turds of Round 2: Mushroom and Heart Divisions

Star of the Divisions – Kefka
Kefka’s surprise win was one of the bigger questions of the previous rounds, some people considered Arthas a four-way wonder while some believed that Kefka and other Old Final Fantasy characters received a boost, most likely from Dissidia. Kefka’s performance against Bowser showed that the Old Final Fantasy characters were something more than filler for the bracket. Some things however never change such as Kefka’s performance with the ASV.

Runner-up – Mario
The main hype for this match was that people thought Big Boss could pull off a Mario/Shadow like match by using a Naked Snake picture. Well the opportunity was there, but Mario again showed off that he is nothing like his 2003 past and thrashed Big Boss by just under what he got in 2007. Just because you look like Solid Snake doesn’t mean you perform like one.

Turd of the Divisions – Master Chief
A lot of people thought that Master Chief losing was near impossible and their blind faith and misuse of the term hierarchy led to Hayabusa pulling off one the biggest upsets both from a casual and guru perspective. Master Chief had a lot of things going for him from new releases to it being a day match and from time to time the guy continues to burn the board by choking.

Runner-up – Sora
Kingdom Hearts didn’t look that great this round and Sora happen to be the first one to show that. At one point Sora was failing to double Laharl, a character that people ranked near Sora would have maybe struggle to triple. Sora may have been the huge favourite to win the division, but now I don’t think he should even be considered to be the favourite over Bowser.

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Board 8 BOP: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/CB8%20BOP.xls
Character Battle VIII - 99/124 - Today's Winners: Ness and Tifa

Well, Tifa has fallen below Vincent's percentage on Gordon after all. I think the evidence is moderately good for a New Square decline overall. This match doesn't say much either for or against the idea, as Gordon could be weaker than last year and we really don't know the relative strengths of Tifa and Vincent.
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Missingno's quest to avenge Crono - Round 2: Yoshi
Link's quest to save us from the oppression of the jokes- Round 3: Megaman X

Kingdom Hearts didn’t look that great this round and Sora happen to be the first one to show that. At one point Sora was failing to double Laharl, a character that people ranked near Sora would have maybe struggle to triple. Sora may have been the huge favourite to win the division, but now I don’t think he should even be considered to be the favourite over Bowser.

Even so, Bowser's done nothing but serve up disappointment after disappointment post-2005.
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"Here I go! Divine judgment for an evil soul! Sacred Penance! Rest in peace." - Estellise Sidos Heurassein, Tales of Vesperia

From: Wii_TuRtLe | #153
Gordon Freeman (2006c) VS Vincent (2006c)

Gordon Freeman has a strength of 25.36.
Vincent has a strength of 37.09.

Vincent wins with 65.81% of the vote!
A win of 39,039 with 123,442 total votes cast.

lol tifa?

Or rather, tifail?

2009 Freeman > 2006 Freeman
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The Gamer In Me
"paulg is a genius." - MajinZidane

I think the evidence is moderately good for a New Square decline overall.

I've yet to see anything definitive for it. I dunno. This match tells me Square's fine more than anything else.
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"Stay with me until the end. Please."
"Not until the end. Always."

Stars and Turds of Round 2: Varia and Midgar Divisions

Star of the Divisions – Captain Falcon
Despite looking pretty bad against Ramza Riku remained the favourite going into the match due to it being a day match and Captain Falcon not looking so hot against Wander. Captain Falcon showed that his run from last year was not a fluke and that he’s a character to watch out for if you are a mid-card. Riku and Falcon have come a long way from getting almost 45% on Yoshi and 25% on Crono respectively in 2006.

Runner-up – Ratchet
I think this match said more about Ratchet being not as pathetic rather than Jecht and Phoenix Wright being pretty weak. I always found it weird that characters like Ratchet were so weak on GameFAQs. His series may not be the most famous, but they are relatively well known. Assuming Phoenix Wright is high fodder Ratchet has moved up to be normal fodder, still pretty weak but a lot better than what we are use to.

Turd of the Divisions – Dante
Like his match against Yoshi it seemed that Dante had almost everything going for him. From having better previous contests since 2005 to having a better performance in round 1, heck the Canada/USA match in hockey was on at the same time to keep North America occupied it seemed that the match was Dante’s to lose. All Dante was able to do was to build a slim lead against Ryu until the hockey match ended where disappointed Americans came to vote and give Ryu the win. It seems that Dante ends up on the wrong side of hyped matches.

Runner-up – Jill Valentine
I feel that Jill is only here because of the board. After her destructive victory over Niko the board seemed to think that Jill was another powerhouse like Leon. That ended once the match began, heck people still tried to justify Jill’s strength by giving Samus a chance against Cloud though that seemed to be more of a joke bandwagon. Overall it seems that a lot of Jill’s over performance was because of Niko dropping rather than Jill boosting.

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Board 8 BOP: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/CB8%20BOP.xls
Character Battle VIII - 99/124 - Today's Winners: Ness and Tifa

Returning New Final Fantasy (FFIX is Old Square for some reason) against others:

Cloud- Bad first round, decent second round.
Sephiroth- Poor first round
Vincent- Poor first round.
Squall- Decent first round, terrible second round.
Tifa- Decent first round, decent second round.
Auron- Decent/Poor second round.
Zack- Poor second round.
Tidus- Bad first round.
Balthier- Poor first round.

There's nothing that stands out as conclusive, but there's a lot of mediocrity and not one standout good performance.

RPGuy's Bowser comparisons are pretty scary (well not scary, since I like Bowser more than any of the Square near-elites, and it makes Frog look better to boot, but you get the idea). I'd be more willing to attribute the gap between Bowser and the Square near-elites closing to the latter dropping than the former boosting. Bowser's Inside Story giving him a boost, I can buy, but it was a pretty sizable gap by 2008, and I'd already been calling for FFVII declining since the games contest last year when we saw its day vote tank.
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Missingno's quest to avenge Crono - Round 2: Yoshi
Link's quest to save us from the oppression of the jokes- Round 3: Megaman X

FFVII's day vote already tanked in 2008. That's why Vincent didn't beat Crono.

Cloud's first round wasn't so bad after we saw him crush Chris Redfield worse than Ridley.
I didn't realize Sephiroth's first round match was considered poor. We were all calling for Marth to break 30%, weren't we?
Vincent's on anti-blowoutFAQs
Squall did what was expected against Akuma, and we don't know anything about Terra
Tifa got the 3rd biggest blowout of the contest on anti-blowoutFAQs, and this performance against Gordon is better than "decent," I think
Auron did exactly as expected against Aerith, and ended up doing just fine against Zero
Zack just wasn't as strong as we thought he was to begin with, nothing changed from 2008 to 2010 there
Tidus lost to Sub-Zero, but he didn't get crushed. That match was a tossup, despite him being the favorite. Sub-Zero's got decent strength, and he'll prove it against Samus
Balthier was always weak.
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"So cold. I am always by your side."
"There ain't no gettin' off of this train we on!"

Plus, is there a series outside of Pokemon that has standout good performances this contest?

I can't really think of one.
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"Spoil it for me. I'm never going to play that game so I want to know if he's going to be another Auron or another Sin." - Soul about Jecht vs. PW

I can believe that New Square is on a decline, and I wouldn't doubt it's the case at all, but there's probably no matches that are unquestionably pointing in the direction. I'm leaning that direction more than not, though, because New Square certainly hasn't looked good -- and this applies to more than just Final Fantasy.

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wheresoever you go, go with all your heart

Plus, is there a series outside of Pokemon that has standout good performances this contest?

I can't really think of one.

Neither can I. Everyone seems to be tanking this year...
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"Here I go! Divine judgment for an evil soul! Sacred Penance! Rest in peace." - Estellise Sidos Heurassein, Tales of Vesperia

Anti-blowoutFAQs is just the thing though. Perhaps this place is Anti-blowoutFAQs because it is no longer Nintendo/SquareFAQs. And even taking the trend against blowouts into account, the Square characters still had a notably harder time than the other elites, for example Samus.

As for FFVII's day vote, it was already declining in 2008, but it was not nearly as bad as in 2009. Cloud and Sephiroth still finished their matches at the high marks for the day in 2008, it was just that those high marks were about identical to what they had at 6 AM. Even Vincent still won the ASV against Crono. In 2009 FFVII finished well below its high mark, and went even with the ASV to Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI.
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Missingno's quest to avenge Crono - Round 2: Yoshi
Link's quest to save us from the oppression of the jokes- Round 3: Megaman X

Y'know, I never - EVER - say this in Link matches, and especially considering the circumstances what I'm about to suggest may seem completely ludicrous.

But I'm thinking Mega Man X may go out and look pretty decent tomorrow. Maybe it's that sprite which, while less similar to Mega Man Original (bad) and the same thing that popped up during LoZ/MMX (very bad), fills me with all sorts of awesome vibes. Maybe its Link's 'passable' performances of the last two rounds coupled with what seems to be a very anti-incumbent sentiment from the voters this time around. Maybe I just think he'll get lucky.

Whatever it is... I'm taking the under for Link and the doubling tonight.
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http://i48.tinypic.com/1ryijd.jpg
http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs14/f/2007/020/b/f/Ariel_by_lolita_art.jpg

the Square characters still had a notably harder time than the other elites, for example Samus.

Strange considering Tifa had a bigger blowout than Samus by .01%!
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"Stay with me until the end. Please."
"Not until the end. Always."

X somehow managed 30% on the wrong end of triple LFF last year. While he's looked fairly poor so far this year, I think he's got a good shot at holding up.
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Mustache...and Green...

It also seems strange that so far the only MM character that hasn't had a breakout performance has been X. I mean, he should be closer to MMO than Zero is... right?
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http://i48.tinypic.com/1ryijd.jpg
http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs14/f/2007/020/b/f/Ariel_by_lolita_art.jpg

From: Karma Hunter | #169
It also seems strange that so far the only MM character that hasn't had a breakout performance has been X. I mean, he should be closer to MMO than Zero is... right?

Man, who likes X more than Zero?

Seriously, I know he's got "Mega Man" in his name, but it's Zero.

But if Mega Man X is stronger than Zero, that means he can get 45% on Auron and beat Aerith, which would make Red and Ocelot not look so bad.
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"Why must we always choose between certain death and probable death?"
"I'm in an epic battle to the death, FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF!"

Hmm, I forgot about that match. The LFF there probably favored X over Link though. I feel good about Link for whatever reason- time to leave Anti-BlowoutFAQs behind with the power of SFF.
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Missingno's quest to avenge Crono - Round 2: Yoshi
Link's quest to save us from the oppression of the jokes- Round 3: Megaman X

I don't necessarily mean MMX is stronger than Zero indirectly (or would win in a direct matchup... that would be fun to see). I mean that as far as reason for Mega Man to boost for whatever reason and taking characters with him, you'd think MMX would be one of the first to be along for the ride.
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http://i48.tinypic.com/1ryijd.jpg
http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs14/f/2007/020/b/f/Ariel_by_lolita_art.jpg

Yeah, but we don't really know how strong Mega Man X is in the first place. He got three matches with Mario full of LFF (and couldn't beat him any of those times, which I think is somewhat telling) last year.
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"I can set you free, mate."
"My freedom was forfeit long ago!"

Any overperformance tomorrow can easily be explained by Link being right handed in the match pic!
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Watch me play games!
http://www.livestream.com/dabu

From: LordOfDabu | #174
Any overperformance tomorrow can easily be explained by Link being right handed in the match pic!

*looks at the match pic*

...I can't even tell what hand he's using there.
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"I can set you free, mate."
"My freedom was forfeit long ago!"

SouthpawFanboyFAQs
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http://i48.tinypic.com/1ryijd.jpg
http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs14/f/2007/020/b/f/Ariel_by_lolita_art.jpg

Alternatively, the 90% or whatever of the site that is right handed could vote Link in even higher numbers!

Silent Protagonist Cloud vs. Right Handed Link, go!
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Missingno's quest to avenge Crono - Round 2: Yoshi
Link's quest to save us from the oppression of the jokes- Round 3: Megaman X

Stars and Turds of Round 2: Gear and Jenova Divisions

Star of the Divisions – Vincent Valentine
A lot of us expected him to get crushed by Sephiroth and while it was expected of him to perform well with the board vote against Sephiroth the guy didn’t exactly drop off the face of the Earth a few updates later. Vincent was able to get roughly what I would expect him to get in a normal match which is pretty impressive all things considering. That still doesn’t quite make-up for his bracket placement, but you take what they give you.

Runner-up – Commander Shepard
Shepard did look impressive last round, but there was still the thought of maybe Ellis was that weak, it did make sense for him to be weak being part of an ensemble cast in a game not that well liked on GameFAQs. Shepard was able to put up a rather decent performance on Pikachu solidifying his place as a mid-card.

Turd of the Divisions – Squall Leonhart
Nobody really tanked in these final two divisions, but somebody needs to get the award. It was clear that Old Final Fantasy is stronger and while the two sides never SFF each other before Dissidia, the reason for the boost now gave them a connection. At worst Terra should have gotten roughly the same as she was expected pre-Dissidia. Squall instead fails to do any SFF whatsoever and would need to hope that Dissidia not only boosted Terra through the roof, but also boosted her past Kefka or else he’s in a bad situation come next round.

Runner-up – Ness
The board always loves to support Ness in debated matches; maybe it was because he burned us in 2004 and 2005 by winning. Ness was the favourite against Big Daddy and for a while it looked like he would take a slim win. Then the board vote ended. Big Daddy tore through Ness quite easily and it only got worse as Europe began to dominate. It probably shouldn’t have surprised the board the way it did, but this board seems to love Earthbound.

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Board 8 BOP: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/CB8%20BOP.xls
Character Battle VIII - 99/124 - Today's Winners: Ness and Tifa

I think Squall/Terra was way more about Terra being good than Squall sucking.
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"Like Darth Maul, the bastard child of Michael Flatley and Hellboy" - trancer1

I feel dirty for even saying this, but...

...

...I agree with BT.

My fanboyism knows no bounds.
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"But you have been given freedom. Freedom to be...outside."
"I am lightning...the rain transformed."

From: LeonhartFour | #180
I feel dirty for even saying this, but...

...

...I agree with BT.

My fanboyism knows no bounds.

Have you no dignity, my good man?
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TheKoolAidShoto is warned? TIME TO BUST OUT THE ALT

Next Round should tell us more.
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Ah, you know it's funny, these people, they go to sleep. They think everything's fine, everything's good... They wake up the next day and they're on fire.

Well there's really no question that it was more about Terra boosting than Squall falling. The Dissidia boost looks massive.
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Missingno's quest to avenge Crono - Round 2: Yoshi
Link's quest to save us from the oppression of the jokes- Round 3: Megaman X

Good job Mr. Freeman, you met my expectations for this match (heck, these would've been my expectations pre-contest too).

So Freeman is now on the high end of low midcarders, apparently.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/images/cb8/cb8-98.jpg
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(|| ' ' ||) Visio Vestri - Character Battle VIII Fanfiction Project
. /|_|\ http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=8&topic=53091233

...Something looks off about that Luigi sprite, but I can't figure it out.
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"Why must we always choose between certain death and probable death?"
"I'm in an epic battle to the death, FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF!"

Have to love joke characters in later rounds. Their lack of images really come into play. Luigi might be screwed.
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:>

Are we seriously entertaining an upset here? Luigi didn't look his absolute best against Ammy or anything, but WCC flopped against The Boss in the daytime.
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http://i48.tinypic.com/1ryijd.jpg
http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs14/f/2007/020/b/f/Ariel_by_lolita_art.jpg

No, the Cube has no chance unless people rally around it like they rallied around Missingno, which I don't see happening.
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"Hold on a minute! That testimony stinks!"
"Witness! You can't just say 'Hello' and expect us to get anywhere! I want you to testify!"

It's a joke character so I'm not putting anything out of the realm of possibility until the match is safely over.
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:>

From: ZenOfThunder | #185
http://www.gamefaqs.com/images/cb8/cb8-98.jpg

Luigi's a little bit off--like someone copied and pasted parts of his image to try to change what pixels were next to what, but didn't line things up properly.
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Cats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. A cat with toast strapped to its back will hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision

Even if Cube got a massive rally, Luigi losing (or being in danger, really) would reflect very poorly on him.
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http://i48.tinypic.com/1ryijd.jpg
http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs14/f/2007/020/b/f/Ariel_by_lolita_art.jpg

That Luigi sprite makes me think Bacon wants to go pretty old school with these, which leaves the possibility open of Bowser getting a SMB sprite. Either way, I kinda doubt he'll select a newer sprite like in RPGuy's awesome pic.
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Yoblazer: http://i38.tinypic.com/2s024p4.jpg
Watch and you'll see... someday I'll be... part of your world!

Man, what if Bacon picks Zelda 1 Bacondorf instead of LTTP Bacondorf?

Gross.
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"Spoil it for me. I'm never going to play that game so I want to know if he's going to be another Auron or another Sin." - Soul about Jecht vs. PW

Eh, he's not going *that* new. That's not Bible Link or anything in the first pic.

Bacondorf is at a disadvantage no matter what you do with him anyway, really.
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http://i48.tinypic.com/1ryijd.jpg
http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs14/f/2007/020/b/f/Ariel_by_lolita_art.jpg

From: metroid composite | #191
Luigi's a little bit off--like someone copied and pasted parts of his image to try to change what pixels were next to what, but didn't line things up properly.

You have a good eye.

I was looking for a Mario 3 sprite, but the only one I could find was very small. So I had to make it bigger in Paint (Photoshop blurs any sprite you enlarge) and then cover up the loose pixels. Thought I had hid it well enough.
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"Oh that the world were more like Ulti." -Meeks

Err, that *old.
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http://i48.tinypic.com/1ryijd.jpg
http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs14/f/2007/020/b/f/Ariel_by_lolita_art.jpg

Also, Bacon's static filter adds to the Luigi sprite looking wrong.
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http://www.boblauer.com/guidette.gif

From: LeonhartFour | #194
Man, what if Bacon picks Zelda 1 Bacondorf instead of LTTP Bacondorf?

Gross.

brb gonna go make this even though he picked a Ganon picture already
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If anyone is fit to shine, it is I.

Ulti, quick bit of advice: for good resizing in MSPaint, highlight the sprite, go to Image -> Stretch/Skew, and enter values in the Height & Width value boxes (should be equal and multiples of 100 to look right. )
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Silverliner says: MEI LING, SAMUS JUST TOOK HER CLOTHES OFF
zemzam says: What???