GameFAQs Contests

Nah the most popular ones (and the two with the most joke potential) have been in.

LeonhartFour posted...

man I really hope the answer to this question isn't actually "Pokemon we haven't gotten in yet"

The answer is actually "whoever catches the rally from a large outside website"

So...it could be Sans. Or Papyrus.

Until a big game is released that is liked by GameFAQs I'm going to be very confident that the strongest non-rallied character will be Blastoise (or a different Pokemon). Maybe Dark Link if he becomes eligible.

There's nothing to be ashamed by it, we've had about 400 characters participate in this over the years.

For non-pokemon entries, would Geralt of Rivia be allowed, or is he disqualified because he originated in a book?

You'd probably have to ask Bacon to be sure.

But all technical reasons aside, I'd guess Bacon would allow him simply because he's the main character of a legitimately popular and important game and nobody in the English-speaking world really cares about the source material so he'd feel like a legitimate entrant. The closest comparison is probably Strider Hiryu, who Bacon specifically said was a valid entrant awhile back when someone asked, despite him originating in a manga.

Also The Last of Us wasn't out during the 2013 nomination period so Joel and Ellie might be decent? Dunno didn't play the game but The Last of Us was one of the few new games to not embarrass itself last contest and it didn't even get a rally.

If you want a non-Pokemon maybe Red XIII

Considering Vincent's last outing, are the remaining FF7 characters expected to have strength?

Team Rocket Elite posted...

Considering Vincent's last outing, are the remaining FF7 characters expected to have strength?

Let's just say Tifa's Orthopedic Underwear isn't a threat these days.

It's been speculated that Yuffie could be a dark horse, since Tifa and Aeris haven't fallen as much as the guys.

I doubt Yuffie was ever that strong to begin with.

If we're considering long-shot dark horse indie characters, Abigail (or maybe Linus) from Stardew Valley. But I don't think one of that game's characters would have the same momentum as the actual game, plus hype probably would've died down by the time we have an actual contest. (Also, I bring up Stardew Valley because everyone should play it)

I'm leaning Blastoise as well (if Squirtle can beat Cloud, imagine what he can do evolved!). If non-Pokemon, either Geralt or Noctis.

Squirtle would be stronger than Blastoise. He's more iconic as his small turtle form (thanks to Ash's Squirtle never evolving). Blastoise's main advantage over Squirtle would be the Rain Dance card game decks, and that was a long time ago.

Blastoise would probably be about equal to Squirtle. Pikachu, Mewtwo, Squirtle and Charizard all ended up pretty close to each other in strength didn't they? Blastoise shouldn't be weaker than Squirtle but it isn't going to be stronger than Charizard which puts Blastoise in that group somewhere.

The Squirtle/Blastoise debate was quite big during the last NRT. I still think Squirtle will be stronger due to the anime, but Blastoise should be a solid mid-carder assuming Pokemon hasn't had another strength change here.

Noctis will be Lightning debut tier in strength, plus or minus a bit for how good FFXV is. He's not gonna be an elite.

Geralt will be strong for a newcomer, but he's not beating anyone legit without a rally.

I forgot about Blaistoise when I said the most popular Pokemon had all been in; I agree with between Squirtle and Charizard.

FFXV is gonna be GOTY so Noctis will have no problem in that regard!

Team Rocket Elite posted...

Blastoise would probably be about equal to Squirtle. Pikachu, Mewtwo, Squirtle and Charizard all ended up pretty close to each other in strength didn't they?.

Kinda? Pokemon strength is too variable to really pin them down. Charizard almost beat Mario one year and then the next he couldn't beat MM when Zero was in the same poll. Mewtwo has gone from cleanly losing to Bowser/Ganondorf to crushing multiple members of the Noble 9 in one year. Squirtle put on a clinic in CB9, but it's entirely likely - if not probable - that he would do much worse next contest due to the inherent random variation that all Pokemon have.

remember that year Mewtwo almost lost to Midna

can we get that back

I think the three way format probably powered up the Pokemon by a decent amount.

KamikazePotato posted...

Team Rocket Elite posted...

Blastoise would probably be about equal to Squirtle. Pikachu, Mewtwo, Squirtle and Charizard all ended up pretty close to each other in strength didn't they?.

Kinda? Pokemon strength is too variable to really pin them down. Charizard almost beat Mario one year and then the next he couldn't beat MM when Zero was in the same poll. Mewtwo has gone from cleanly losing to Bowser/Ganondorf to crushing multiple members of the Noble 9 in one year. Squirtle put on a clinic in CB9, but it's entirely likely - if not probable - that he would do much worse next contest due to the inherent random variation that all Pokemon have.

Well, we know Charizard's run in 2010 was likely the result of HG/SS's timely release.

If anything, I don't think the three way format was as much to blame for Pokemon going nuclear as much as it was the entire contest going completely bats*** in the 2nd round. Draven was the start, and Vivi was when everything went upside down and suddenly underdogs like Squirtle could take down guys like Cloud. Maybe Charizard's mistake was going in as a favorite because of Zero's presence (or maybe Mega Man wasn't seen as the old guard like Link or Cloud was).

Pokemon was getting rallied in nearly every match, and the vote totals were quite low.

Wasn't smurf starting most of the rallies?
Or maybe he was stuffing... I think he was the one that stuffed the Touhou character(s) that ended up having votes removed.
Probably both?

Charizard was never near Mario's strength in 2010. His most accurate match was the 55% he got against Kratos. That's why he went even with Zelda and lost to Mega Man despite Zero being in the poll in 2013.

charmander6000 posted...

Charizard was never near Mario's strength in 2010. His most accurate match was the 55% he got against Kratos. That's why he went even with Zelda and lost to Mega Man despite Zero being in the poll in 2013.

Pretty much. People forgot that Charizard had a huge boost with a game release against Bowser and had momentum from that victory against Mario like so many other characters that have weird runs and then go back to normal the next contest.

It still makes no sense for Charizard to be much weaker than Squirtle.

I doubt anyone would take Squirtle over Charizard, he lost a direct match against Pikachu. The 2013 contest was weird and Squirtle was lucky to get Dante at his weakest before the rallying began.

Eh, I feel like Squirtle vs Zard would be a total toss up. Sometimes you just can't apply logic.


Charizard broke 45% on Mario and was absolute garbage the next contest. Mewtwo "crushed multiple N9ers" but who knows he might lose to some upper-mid carder such as Squall or MMX or something.

This reminds me it kind of sucks that we're not gonna get a contest this year.

spooky96 posted...

This reminds me it kind of sucks that we're not gonna get a contest this year.

I blame the US legal system.

I'd take Squirtle over Charizard.

Pokemon just seems to be one of those entities where cute is going to win over badass. It's Mewtwo that would have me question that logic, if anyone.

swirIdude posted...

Squirtle would be stronger than Blastoise. He's more iconic as his small turtle form (thanks to Ash's Squirtle never evolving). Blastoise's main advantage over Squirtle would be the Rain Dance card game decks, and that was a long time ago.

Until Brawl I don't think this was true, but with Brawl Squirtle just wrecks the dude probably.

spooky96 posted...

This reminds me it kind of sucks that we're not gonna get a contest this year.

Every other year is honestly the perfect frame of time.

I don't mind contests being every other year, but it's a shame when some of them are then 3-ways or rivals. This year's contest was good, but it's been 6 years since we had a good character contest imo.

I think anime and Brawl will push Squirtle above Blastoise, which is being on the front of Pokemon Blue as the best thing going for it. Blastoise will still be strong obviously. Also, speaking of Mewtwo almost losing to Midna, we could've had Midna getting to the top 16 then!

I think Red XIII should have some decent strength, he's a fan favorite of that game and I don't understand why he has never been in. Vincent was so strong for a while due to being cool pretty much, Red could've done pretty great. I think he's still worth getting into a contest for sure.

ctesjbuvf posted...

I think Red XIII should have some decent strength, he's a fan favorite of that game and I don't understand why he has never been in. Vincent was so strong for a while due to being cool pretty much, Red could've done pretty great. I think he's still worth getting into a contest for sure.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/845-who-is-your-favorite-final-fantasy-vii-character

If this (old) poll is worth anything today, then there's no question that Red XIII should be in a contest, but with Cloud, Vincent, Zack, Tifa and maybe Aeris ahead of him, we may need another 243 character 3-way contest to get him in.

Just need to get a good rally going for him during nominations. The fact that he hasn't been in before definitely helps.

Contests being every other year is awful.

I agree, they should be every four years instead!

I like contests but I don't really have the time to follow them regularly anymore so I don't mind the lack of them.

Every year would be the best when you want to have both games and characters.

Three years seem like a better schedule, I think.

I'll be tracking today's poll because it has the potential for some interesting trends.

this topic will still be around in 2020.

You say that but we still have a carbonated beverage poll coming at some point.

ctesjbuvf posted...

I don't mind contests being every other year, but it's a shame when some of them are then 3-ways or rivals. This year's contest was good, but it's been 6 years since we had a good character contest imo.

I think anime and Brawl will push Squirtle above Blastoise, which is being on the front of Pokemon Blue as the best thing going for it. Blastoise will still be strong obviously. Also, speaking of Mewtwo almost losing to Midna, we could've had Midna getting to the top 16 then!

I think Red XIII should have some decent strength, he's a fan favorite of that game and I don't understand why he has never been in. Vincent was so strong for a while due to being cool pretty much, Red could've done pretty great. I think he's still worth getting into a contest for sure.

Link getting s*** on WAS fantastic, and before that contest everyone wanted him to lose.

So of course Board 8 whines when he loses because "it wasn't on my terms waah". Draven, L-Block, Undertale, and rallies in general make these contests awesome. And no, rallied characters/games/wild cards don't always win. Crono lost in 2002. Missingno lost the year he beat Crono. Et cetera.

I for one would be totally fine with Link winning every contest (and he's not one of my favorite characters or anything).

My main issue with the 2013 contest was simply that 3-ways creates way too many LFF situations. Much worse than 4-ways did. The format itself was te problem. Mega Man vs. Zero vs. Charizard remains my favorite match of the contest because Mega Man prevailed against the format.

Crono lost in 2002 because someone got caught cheating. Same with Starcraft.

It's much easier for rallied things to win now because the vote totals are awful on their own, too, so let's not bring up "rallied stuff didn't always win back when we had 100,000 votes on a regular basis!"

2013 became decently tolerable due to Mewtwos run and Mario's loss.

I mean the guy was down by 5k or 7k votes and managed to comeback and lost only due to GameFAQs getting eff'd.

Looking back at it, it doesn't seem all that bad:
1) lol allens wife story
2) vivi > mario > ganon lololol
3) POKEMON TRAINER RED LMAO > Squall > vivi
4) mewtwo DESTROYS sephy
5) freakin squrtle beats the 2003 champ lol
6) Mega Man > Zard > Zero was one of the best match we've ever had
7) Pikachu doesnt give a flying f*** if pkmn blue is in the same match against Sora

and had link, cloud and mario in the finals, and neither of them made it to top 3 >_>

Almost all of those were terrible results.

It was actually Vivi > Squall which was GameFAQs finally getting it right.

2013 was pretty fun stuff, don't really need to do three-ways again but it was another fun one-off that had some great matches outside the Draven stuff (and even Draven/Link was phenomenal stuff).

Most of those were terrible and only happened due to the stupidity that is 3-ways. 1 and 6 are the only ones I enjoyed and only 7 wasn't also terrible.