GameFAQs Contests

1983 has the best chance of making it through the wildcard round, since it faces off against 1989 (one of the weakest NES years).

They decided to include Tetris with 1989 so it'll likely be safe.

I'm a bit disappointed the write-ups weren't used, I was under the impression that SBAllen would make a separate page so mine may have been too long. Here are the years that I did.

1981
The golden age of arcade gaming was alive and well in 1981, where many releases are still remembered today. Donkey Kong popularized the platforming genre and introduced the world to Jumpman who would go on to become Mario. Frogger promoted a novel gameplay and countless clones while Tempest was one of the first games to use a color vector display and the SkillStep feature allowing players to continue on a harder level instead of the beginning. 1981 also saw sequels to popular games with the release of Galaga and Ms. Pac-Man, both becoming popular games in their own right. Computer gaming saw popular releases such as Castle Wolfenstein, which inspired the creation of the unrelated Wolfenstein series and Ultima I was officially released creating a massively popular open world role playing series. The Game & Watch saw releases of Chef, Helmet and Manhole. The Atari 2600 showed it was more than a home arcade machine with popular releases of Freeway, Kaboom! and Laser Blast. Intellivision had arguably its best year with the debut of Astrosmash and Space Armada.

1987
1987 brought us several classic games along with the start of new series, many of which continue to release games today. The arcade industry was full of hits during the year. Double Dragon became the first commercially successful beat ’em up, pushing the genre to new heights. Shoot ‘em ups also had a great year on the arcades, led by Contra which would launch an entire franchise. Other Shoot ‘em ups include R-Type and 1942’s sequel 1943: The Battle of Midway. On the platforming side Bionic Commando offered a bit of a unique experience, a platformer without jumping and became the first popular game to feature a grappling hook. The release of hack and slash Shinobi quickly became one of Sega’s most popular series in the 80s and early 90s. The year also marked the release of Street Fighter which would go on to become one of the most successful fighting franchises ever created. The NES arguably had one of its best years. Mega Man was Capcom’s first title made specifically for a home console; the game would go on to spawn many games and numerous spin-off series. Similarly Konami released Castlevania which turned into one of Konami’s largest series. Nintendo released numerous games for the NES including Kid Icarus and Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!. The two biggest games release however, were Metroid and The Legend of Zelda. Both spawned very successful series and were one of the most influential games ever released, giving the player the opportunity to explore and move around in a non-linear way.

1992
The console wars continued in 1992. With heavy marketing and a new mascot Sega’s Genesis took a strong lead in the North American market over Nintendo’s SNES. The Genesis would continue its strong showing by releasing a sequel of their new mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The game introduced Sonic’s sidekick, Miles “Tails” Prower. Sequels would rule the Genesis in 1992 with games such as Splatterhouse 2, Streets of Rage 2 and World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck all getting released. Nintendo however, used 1992 to fight back. As a way to combat Sonic’s speed Nintendo released Super Mario Kart which turned into the largest kart racing franchise. The other massive release was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, which brought the series back to its top-down perspective and is considered to be one of the best games ever released. Also released on the SNES were a pair of Dragon Warrior (III and IV) and Mega Man (4 and 5) games. Outside the console wars Wolfenstein 3D helped popularize the first-person shooter genre while the Gameboy saw the release of Super Mario Land 2 and the debut of the Kirby series with Kirby’s Dream Land. The arcades and gaming in general reached a peak in controversy after the release of many violent video games including the franchise debut of Mortal Kombat. The controversy in North America led to the development of the ESRB which assigns age and content ratings.

1993
1993 saw Nintendo’s first attempt in polygonal graphics and the first use of the Super FX on the SNES with the release of Star Fox. The game would go on to spawn a franchise. Also making its start on the SNES was Lufia & the Fortress of Doom and Square’s Secret of Mana which spun-off from Final Fantasy Adventure while Kirby made its first appearance on a console with Kirby’s Adventure. The Genesis saw a number of big releases including Shining Force and Gunstar Heroes, considered to be one of the best games ever to be released on the Genesis. The Sega CD, an add-on to the Genesis arguably saw its best year with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog CD and Lunar: The Silver Star which went on to form the Lunar series. The arcades saw the release of the sequel and controversial Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II while Virtua Fighter became the first arcade fighter to feature 3D polygon graphics. The first-person shooter genre continued to gain popularity with the PC release of Doom as the game was also a pioneer for immersive 3D graphics. PC gaming also saw the release of The 7th Room and Myst, an immersive adventure game and one of the best-selling PC games ever released. Both games are credited for popularizing CD-ROM drives. The Gameboy saw the release of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, the first Zelda game on a handheld and is considered to be one of the best Gameboy games ever created.

Yeah, I was wondering how Allen planned on making these writeups accessible on the actual match page. Didn't really seem feasible. He could've just made a page with writeups on them, like he's done with contests in the past.

1995
1995 marked gaming entering its fifth generation. In an attempt to outdo the Sony Playstation the Sega Saturn became the first console to launch by moving its North American release date four months ahead of schedule. Among its launch titles include Clockwork Knight and Panzer Dragoon which would go on to become a series. The Sony Playstation launched with Rayman and later on Twister Metal would be released, both became popular series during the new generation. Among the fourth generation consoles the Genesis saw releases like Comix Zone, Ristar and Vectorman while the SNES had arguably one of the best years for the RPG genre. Breath of Fire II, Earthbound and Secret of Evermore were all released along with one of the most acclaimed and respected games ever created, Chrono Trigger. Also released on the SNES were Donkey Kong Country 2, Mega Man 7 and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. The arcades saw a fighting game blitz with releases like King of Fighter ’95, Mortal Kombat 3 and Tekken 2. The Gameboy got the release of Kirby’s Dream Land 2 while PC gaming saw the debut of the Command & Conquer series and the critically acclaimed release of MechWarrior 2.

1996
1996 solidified gaming into the fifth generation. Both the Playstation and Saturn had their first full year while Nintendo released their console, the Nintendo 64 meanwhile the SNES, PC and Arcades produced some exceptional titles. The Nintendo 64 was launched with two titles; Pilotwings 64 and Super Mario 64. Super Mario 64 is considered to be one of the most revolutionizing games ever made, popularizing 3D gaming and forming the basis of platforms for the next decade. The year also marked the debut of many memorable series including horror genre defining Resident Evil, Playstation mascot Crash Bandicoot and the action adventure genre defining Tomb Raider. Other series to make their debut include: Dead or Alive, Diablo, Suikoden and Time Crisis. The Saturn saw the classic releases of NiGHTS into Dreams... and Panzer Dragoon II Zwei while the PC saw Duke Nukem 3D, Command & Conquer: Red Alert and Quake whose game engine would go on to be the base of countless games. Despite the release of the Nintendo 64 the SNES also had a strong year with releases like Donkey Kong Country 3, Kirby Super Star, Tetris Attack and the Nintendo and Square collaboration Super Mario RPG. Overall the year is one of the most important as it contains some of the greatest games ever made and it laid out the groundwork for the way games were to be made in the coming years.

1997
1997 was the year where one of the largest gaming advertising campaigns went on for Final Fantasy VII. The game is credited for popularizing the role-playing game genre in North America. On the Playstation was the release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night which became a sleeper hit and showed that 2D gaming was alive and well. The year also saw sequels on the Playstation in the form of Crash Bandicoot 2 and Tomb Raider II while PaRappa the Rapper became one of the first modern rhythm games. For the Nintendo 64 it was the year of multiplayer titles with the release of GoldenEye 007, Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing. GoldenEye 007 showed that consoles can also be viable in the first person shooter genre and played a big part in inspiring other series. Other titles on the Nintendo 64 include the meme-filled Star Fox 64, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Blast Corps. PC gaming saw the release of Fallout, which went on to become a successful series and Quake II while the arcades showed they were the best device for fighting games with the release of the highly rated Tekken 3 along with Mortal Kombat 4 and Street Fighter IV.

2000
2000 saw the second major console entering the sixth generation with the release of the Playstation 2 on October 26th. The Playstation 2 debuted with many games including Dynasty Warriors 2, SSX and TimeSplitters. The other sixth gen console, the Dreamcast perform well in its first full year including new titles such as Jet Grind Radio, Shenmue and Skies of Arcadia and games from popular series such as Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes and Resident Evil Code: Veronica. In addition, the PC had a strong year with the release of The Sims, one of the top selling PC games ever made and the start of a very successful series. Also released were Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn, Deus Ex and Diablo II, all of which are considered to be some of PC’s finest games. Among the fifth gen consoles the Nintendo 64 saw the release of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, considered one of the best game of the 00s along with Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and Pokemon Stadium. Rare likewise had a strong year with the releases of Banjo-Tooie and Perfect Dark. The Playstation had multiple role-playing games released including Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy IX, The Legend of Dragoon and Vagrant Story. The system also saw Spyro: Year of the Dragon and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. The Gameboy Color saw the release of Wario Land 3 and the second generation of the popular Pokemon series, Pokemon Gold/Silver.

2003
The sixth generation continued in 2003 with several new IPs along with new games in traditional series. The Zelda series made its first appearance on the Gamecube with the release of the cel shaded The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. In addition, racing games made a big splash on the Gamecube with the release of F-Zero GX and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and the console was the first to debut Viewtiful Joe. The Xbox saw what is perhaps the greatest Star Wars game ever released, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Also released on the Xbox were Panzer Dragoon Orta and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball which turned into a successful spinoff series. The Playstation 2 saw sequels for many of its top series such as Final Fantasy X-2, Jak II and Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando along with the debut of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness and Xenosaga Episode I, both of which became successful series. Notable games released on all consoles include Beyond Good & Evil and a series reboot in the form of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The PC saw the debut of Call of Duty, one of the most successful series ever released and Defense of the Ancients otherwise known as DotA which helped popularize e-sports during the 00s. The Gameboy Advance had arguably its best year. Pokemon reached its third generation in Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and WarioWare Inc.: Microgame$ spawned off popular spinoff series and North America received its first Fire Emblem game, simply titled, Fire Emblem.

2006
2006 saw Sony and Nintendo’s addition to the seventh generation console race with the release of the Playstation 3 and Wii respectively. The Playstation 3 was released on November 17th with several games including Resistance: Fall of Man and Ridge Racer 7. Two days later the Wii was released packed in with Wii Sports which became the best-selling game on a single platform, surpassing Super Mario Bros. Also on the Wii and Gamecube was the release of the critically acclaimed The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess which currently is the best-selling Zelda game. With a full year under its belt the Xbox 360 saw the beginning of many new series such as Dead Rising, Gears of War and Saints Row. The 360 and PC also saw the release of The Elders Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the popular open world role playing game. Despite the approaching release of the Playstation 3 the Playstation 2 had a great year seeing the release of Kingdom Hearts II, Final Fantasy XII, Tales of the Abyss and Xenosaga Episode III along with new IPs like Bully and Okami. On the DS New Super Mario Bros. revived 2D Mario gaming while Brain Age essentially repopularized Edutainment games. The Gameboy Advance and DS co-release of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red/Blue Rescue Team turned into a popular Pokemon spin-off series. The Playstation Portable also had a strong year with releases such as Daxter, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.

2007
2007 was the year where one of gaming’s largest marketing campaigns occurred. Halo 3 was not only advertised in gaming circles, but to the general public giving us memorable products like Game Fuel. Another heavily marketed game was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare which began the Modern Warfare spinoff series. The year saw the beginning of many memorable series including Assassin’s Creed, BioShock, Crysis, Mass Effect and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. The peripheral rhythmic genre would see its second big competitor with the launch of Rock Band to take on Activision’s release of Guitar Hero III: Legend of Rock. 2007 also marked the year of the release of The Orange Box a Valve compilation set containing five games, three of which were new; Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2. Despite competing directly with its younger brother the Playstation 2 still saw releases such as God of War II and Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3. The Wii saw the release of Super Mario Galaxy, widely considered to be one of the best games ever among critics. Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog met for the first time in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Also released on the Wii were Metroid Prime 3: Corruptions and Super Paper Mario. The DS saw the fourth generation of Pokemon with the release of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl along with The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and two Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games; Justice for All and Trials and Tribulations.

LeonhartFour posted...

Yeah, I was wondering how Allen planned on making these writeups accessible on the actual match page. Didn't really seem feasible. He could've just made a page with writeups on them, like he's done with contests in the past.

I could see 3 possible ways to make these writeups accessible to voters:

1. Display the full writeup below the match picture.

2. Display a partial writeup below the match picture, but provide a link to view the full writeup.

3. Don't show the writeups below the match picture, but provide a link to view the full writeup.

the write ups wouldn't have mattered in the slightest. the picture is going to be about all people have to go on.

diversity will matter, but only if you can get onto the title card. even 1998 can lose if you get a picture of Half-Life, Starcraft and FFT up against Melee, FFX and MGS2.

The 97 VS 98 match pic must have FFVII Cloud VS FFT Cloud!

Yeah write ups won't matter one but. Pictures will be the deciding factor in 99.9% of votes

The Board Odds Project is up and running, contribute by submitting your brackets

https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/75238740

Now to wait for someone to make a bracket analysis thread or something similar.

So I may know which picks in my bracket are the obvious ones, which ones are the sexy upset picks, and which ones are completely retarded.

I am the preeminent day 1 bracket analysis person on this board over the years and I can't even bother to make one because what do you even say?

LeonhartFour posted...

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Actually I'm okay with this contest as long as we get something big in 2018.

I'm okay with this contest as long as it's not the only contest in 2017.

I have lower expectations. Nowadays it seems having contests in two consecutive years is a bonus.

It's sad. I don't care if there are rallies or other crap, I just want contests.

screw it, I'm going to write up something. it might be a bit though, I need to finish my other topic. one year too late darnit

Now I am thinking, how the hell do you do a "why did they lose" for this contest?

Madness!

LusterSoldier posted...

I could see 3 possible ways to make these writeups accessible to voters:

1. Display the full writeup below the match picture.

2. Display a partial writeup below the match picture, but provide a link to view the full writeup.

3. Don't show the writeups below the match picture, but provide a link to view the full writeup.

Yeah, none of these seemed very likely.

LeonhartFour posted...

pjbasis posted...

Yeah I think it's a decent upset pick. MM + FFIX hits very wide, more than SMB3 alone.

Well, the "variety" argument was what people used to pick FF over Zelda in the Series Contest...!

hmmm...feels different...but maybe not!

LeonhartFour posted...

Yeah, none of these seemed very likely.

I don't think Allen would have gone through all the trouble of asking the board to provide writeups for every single year from 1972 to 2016 and then not use the writeups in some form for this contest. I think the writeups will be used for this contest, but we don't know how they will be used.

Well, he obviously couldn't come up with a good way to use them the way he had intended because they weren't as practical as he hoped.

I have 2000 over 1997. FF7's dropped enough that I'd take Majora's Mask, Gold/Silver, and FF9 over FF7, SotN, and Goldeneye.

Reminder that FF7 wasn't a huge jump over FF9 in the last contest either.

FF7: https://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/6181-best-game-ever-bonus-final-fantasy-vii-vs-zelda-ocarina-of
FF9: https://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/6155-best-game-ever-day-29-round-3-zelda-ocarina-of-time-vs-final
SotN: https://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/6167-best-game-ever-day-35-division-v-final-zelda-ocarina-of-time

Eh, SOTN is closer to FFIX than it is to FFVII.

And let's not forget that FFVII would almost certainly SFF FFIX harder in a direct match (along with me not completely trusting those bonus matches. You can use Mario RPG to suggest Melee isn't much weaker than OoT). FFIX is worth more on FFVII through OoT than FFVI got on it, which would definitely not be the case head-to-head.

I think taking the games and adding strengths together is a big mistake. I would sooner go with biggest game wins. we should make a bracket on that and see how it does. 1995 might be super strong.

transience posted...

I would sooner go with biggest game wins.

I'm kinda leaning that way myself, yeah.

NEWCOMER

http://i.imgur.com/86cZqxK.png

I'm kinda the other way, I think 2000 will excel because it has solid reps from this site's three biggest franchises in Majora's Mask, Pokemon Gold/Silver, and FF9. I do have 1995 coasting to the semi-final because I really don't think anything outside the 90's-early 00's range is going to impress much. The only real threat to 95 is 2008, and I really doubt the MGS4/Brawl/Fallout 3 combo is the same juggernaut it would've been seven or eight years ago.

I mean, 1998's going to win easily because arguably the two strongest games on this site are represented in that year, but I think MM is closer to FF7 now than many would expect (I definitely wouldn't pick MM in a match, but I could see 45% or so) and I'd definitely favor f***ing Pokemon and a game that had a character rallied over freaking Mario over midcarders like SotN and Goldeneye.

Should be interesting to see which preference voters have.

Tumblr bait ahoy

I'm kinda surprised that you say that while discounting 2001. seems like what you want is 01, not 00.

transience posted...

I'm kinda surprised that you say that while discounting 2001. seems like what you want is 01, not 00.

That's actually a good point, must have overlooked it my first time through.

Time to re-evaluate my bracket.

e: I'd still take Pokemon + Zelda over Smash, but I've switched 2001 to beat 08 and 95 now. That FFX/Melee duo's pretty damn strong.

I wish FFX had won GOTD so people other than me would overrate it to high heaven rather than Majora's Mask

Majora's Mask did look pretty weird last contest upon revisiting. It essentially tied against a Super Metroid that's looked quite underwhelming in previous contests, then put up a strong performance against LttP, which performed around FF7's level, though who the f*** knows how they actually compare to each other with all that SFF going on, plus the FF7 one being a bonus match.

Then again, seems like Melee would probably beat MM (and would easily beat GS considering last contest), and I'd still pick FF10 > FF9, so...damn. This is going to be a tough one. Guess I'm going 2001 in the finals now.

Super Metroid is just a monster. we should probably talk about 1994

transience posted...

Super Metroid is just a monster. we should probably talk about 1994

My initial bracket already has it reaching 98. That quarter of the bracket is weak enough that SM + FF6 will steamroll right through its opposition.

Super Metroid is probably really strong, yeah. I don't know about being neck and neck with LTTP though. It basically put up the same number on Mario Galaxy that Twilight Princess did. Majora's Mask was just wonky there in some form or fashion.

I mean, 1994 has no chance against 1998 if it gets that far

Super Metroid has to get past SMW first. And the Super Nintendo.

It does get the help of the mighty FFVI though, but I dunno, it feels weird to say that 2 SNES games are better than the SNES itself.

91 isn't much though. Mario World and FF4 vs. Super Metroid and FF6? I dunno, Super Metroid is probably on Mario World's level or slightly below and FF6 beats out FF4.

(that said, I have 91)

Mario World, FFIV, Sonic 1, SFII, and the SNES itself, if you believe in variety and/or console launch power, is pretty darn loaded.

also I'd never take Super Metroid to beat Mario World head to head

I feel like there needs to be more games listed under notable games; Mega Man X is a 1994 game that should definitely be listed.

I'm stuck at '85 vs '87

Can anyone help?

no we can't

we're guessing just as much as you are

so what's a best game wins bracket look like

I'll jump to the top 8

1995 > 2001
1997 > 1996
1994 > 1991 (could go either way)
1998 > 2005

1997 > 1995
1998 > 1994

1998 > 1997

lol 1990s

Yeah I feel like this contest can actually have a few surprising results

transience posted...

1994 > 1991 (could go either way)

Which game are you putting over World? FFVI or Super Metroid? Or both?

also are we sure RE4 beats Wind Waker

because other than those two it's essentially what my bracket looks like

I was going FF6 > World > Metroid. FF6 had some pretty great results in that last contest. World could beat it. like I said, could go either way.

RE4 over WW feels right? not by much, of course, and zelda.

Remember that Wind Waker got nearly 47% on that FFVI you are lauding so highly so you're giving RE4 a pretty good shot at FFVI (and by extension World and Super Metroid)...!

the game that couldn't get 45% on Super Mario RPG

not seeing the problem here!

Wow 2016 so bad, it says Pokemon SM in the notable games >_>

spooky96 posted...

Wow 2016 so bad, it says Pokemon SM in the notable games >_>

Allen admitted that he might have forgotten some of the notable games as he was in a hurry to get the bracket up. He is allowing other people to make suggestions for other notable games that might have been missed. I expect FFXV to be added later on.