Leonhart4 10/31/2023 7:17:12 AM#1
Currently remembering the 2008 Character Battle! Best of luck going forward, SBAllen!

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B = Character Weaker than A
C = Character Weaker than B
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To compare how C would do against B ---> [(CvA)/(BvA)]*50 = CvB
To figure out how B would do against A ---> [(CvA)/(CvB)]*50 = BvA
Leonhart4 10/31/2023 7:57:01 AM#2
Mewtwo is a solid midcarder. I'm not trying to say he's weak. He won't get wrecked by any non-Noble Niner. I just resisted the idea that he was a near elite.

What started my whole "Mewtwo is a Fraud" campaign was a poll I ran during noms of the 2018 contest asking who was the strongest non-Noble Nine Nintendo character, and Mewtwo won, which legitimately stunned me.

I suppose I should have just let those people keep thinking that for my own benefit, but what can I say? I can't help myself.
ctesjbuvf 10/31/2023 7:58:36 AM#3
Yeah that was ridiculous.

Wonder how Zelda did in that poll lol.
Guinness Book of World Records is the name of the diary that belongs to azuarc, the winner of the Game of the Decade II guru contest.
Leonhart4 10/31/2023 8:00:46 AM#4
ctesjbuvf 10/31/2023 8:21:06 AM#5
I tried to find the poll with no luck lol.

But I imagine Pikachu, Bowser, Luigi, Ganondorf, Kirby being more popular choices than Zelda yeah.
Guinness Book of World Records is the name of the diary that belongs to azuarc, the winner of the Game of the Decade II guru contest.
ctesjbuvf 10/31/2023 8:29:04 AM#6
Oh wait you made a fourpack of fun: Ganondorf / Kirby, Luigi / Mewtwo

with Mewtwo > Ganondorf winning and Mewtwo > Kirby being tied for second

Maybe this was it
Guinness Book of World Records is the name of the diary that belongs to azuarc, the winner of the Game of the Decade II guru contest.
KamikazePotato 10/31/2023 8:33:00 AM#7
Mewtwo>Ganondorf is a bit wild considering that match already happened and it wasn't close
It's Reyn Time.
ctesjbuvf 10/31/2023 8:40:01 AM#8
And the same contest Kirby outperformed Ganondorf on the same opponent, Sonic, by a decent bit.
Guinness Book of World Records is the name of the diary that belongs to azuarc, the winner of the Game of the Decade II guru contest.
Leonhart4 10/31/2023 9:06:51 AM#9
Yeah, that was it.

I may have been offended on behalf of Luigi, and I was indirectly vindicated there, too...!
ctesjbuvf 10/31/2023 9:08:12 AM#10
Mewtwo also later won a Sonic/Squall, Mewtwo/Crono fourpack you made.
Guinness Book of World Records is the name of the diary that belongs to azuarc, the winner of the Game of the Decade II guru contest.
Leonhart4 10/31/2023 9:11:47 AM#11
Yeah that was probably the last straw

Luigi might have actually won that theoretical eightpack in 2018 looking back on it now
ctesjbuvf 10/31/2023 9:18:02 AM#12
I think Crono should be the clear favorite
Guinness Book of World Records is the name of the diary that belongs to azuarc, the winner of the Game of the Decade II guru contest.
TeamRocketElite 10/31/2023 2:27:20 PM#13
In the Guru, Tifa was solidly the favourite to beat Mewtwo in their match. So I have no idea what was going on in those board polls!
My bracket looked like random picks compared to his.
Congrats to azuarc for winning the GotD 2020 Guru Contest!
Leonhart4 10/31/2023 2:30:21 PM#14
I imagine my campaign had some effect on things, and probably a lot of those voters don't submit brackets to the Guru (or at all, really).
KamikazePotato 10/31/2023 2:35:50 PM#15
I also pushed Tifa pretty hard in the contest pre-season. Those big analysis topics I made tended to have some effect - even if I led people astray as often as I helped them!
It's Reyn Time.
TeamRocketElite 10/31/2023 3:18:36 PM#16
I thought I was giving Tifa a lot of credit before the contest... then I failed to predict Tifa over Sephiroth anyways. >_>
My bracket looked like random picks compared to his.
Congrats to azuarc for winning the GotD 2020 Guru Contest!
KamikazePotato 10/31/2023 3:28:09 PM#17
TeamRocketElite posted...
I thought I was giving Tifa a lot of credit before the contest... then I failed to predict Tifa over Sephiroth anyways. >_>
I mean me too. That result is still ridiculous even if that year's results indicated it was possible. It went against two decades of conventional contest wisdom.
It's Reyn Time.
Leonhart4 10/31/2023 3:34:17 PM#18
I mean we'd seen Tifa lose directly to Sephiroth in two different contests and it wasn't particularly close either time

That was an unprecedented hierarchy shift within the same game
(edited 10/31/2023 3:36:47 PM)report
WarThaNemesis2 10/31/2023 3:59:57 PM#19
In hindsight my theory of 'traditionally edgy-appeal characters are going to drop off' that was the cause for Vincent/Auron/Squall/etc. falling in 2013 should have logically led to me expecting it to affect Sephiroth more than any of them, since he had so much more room to fall.
Not a stinky alien. :(
Nintendo Switch Code: SW-5719-6555-8388
(edited 10/31/2023 4:00:52 PM)report
ctesjbuvf 10/31/2023 4:15:58 PM#20
TeamRocketElite posted...
I thought I was giving Tifa a lot of credit before the contest... then I failed to predict Tifa over Sephiroth anyways. >_>

I was the only one in the oracle that did this (blatant humble brag). No one expected it right up until it began lol.
Guinness Book of World Records is the name of the diary that belongs to azuarc, the winner of the Game of the Decade II guru contest.
pjbasis 10/31/2023 4:47:35 PM#21
WarThaNemesis2 posted...
In hindsight my theory of 'traditionally edgy-appeal characters are going to drop off' that was the cause for Vincent/Auron/Squall/etc. falling in 2013 should have logically led to me expecting it to affect Sephiroth more than any of them, since he had so much more room to fall.

Why is Cloud immune to this
WarThaNemesis2 10/31/2023 4:51:04 PM#22
pjbasis posted...
Why is Cloud immune to this

He isn't, he also fell off a cliff but being in Smash covered some of it up.
Not a stinky alien. :(
Nintendo Switch Code: SW-5719-6555-8388
KamikazePotato 10/31/2023 5:10:25 PM#23
Cloud barely beating Mario in 2018 was considered an impressive result. That match used to be a 62-38.
It's Reyn Time.
(edited 10/31/2023 5:10:32 PM)report
LeonhartFour 10/31/2023 5:12:37 PM#24
Cloud isn't edgy

also Cloud had a lot of strength to lose while still being able to be #2 on the site

He went from 53/47 against Link to 60/40 against Link over the span of 2010 to 2018, so there was definitely a dropoff.
MacArrowny 10/31/2023 5:21:00 PM#25
Hey, if Link grew in strength as much as Zelda did in that period, Cloud actually got stronger!
All the stars in the sky are waiting for you.
LeonhartFour 10/31/2023 5:27:00 PM#26
I'd argue Link's strength was diminishing over time, too, but Breath of the Wild enabled him to regain some of it.
AxemRedRanger 10/31/2023 5:31:36 PM#27
Given that back in 2010 we saw signs of Cloud clearly struggling (Captain Falcon breaking 30% on him when at one point even Bowser couldn't do that, Samus hanging even with him until the TDZ and ending up in the high 40s and beating him in the U.S.) while Squall and Auron still seemed basically fine and Vincent in retrospect looking like he had probably already started his big drop, a theoretically Cloud-that's-not-in-Smash might have dropped about as hard as even Vincent did. I guess that maybe kinda matches up with what we saw out of Cloud in 2013 though.
[NO BARKLEY NO PEACE]
[NO Azuarc NO PEACE]
WarThaNemesis2 10/31/2023 5:53:13 PM#28
LeonhartFour posted...
Cloud isn't edgy

His Kingdom Hearts design is!
Not a stinky alien. :(
Nintendo Switch Code: SW-5719-6555-8388
KamikazePotato 10/31/2023 5:55:18 PM#29
OG Cloud isn't edgy, but he definitely is in Kingdom Hearts and Advent Children, and those were the two major sources of his post-FF7 strength. I think it's fair to lump him in with the edgy crowd that fell off once we collectively grew past our teenage years.

One benefit of FF7 Remake is that I think it reminded people of what the characters they love (or used to love) were actually like.
It's Reyn Time.
_SecretSquirrel 10/31/2023 8:04:15 PM#30
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3288-division-7-round-2-big-boss-kirby-m-chief-raiden

Big Boss and Raiden in the same match is some dirty s***. Probably doesn't prevent Kirby from doing his run later on though.
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, azuarc, winner of Game of the Decade!
(edited 10/31/2023 8:05:49 PM)report
KamikazePotato 10/31/2023 8:21:56 PM#31
4-way Chief brings back memories.
It's Reyn Time.
ctesjbuvf 11/1/2023 1:18:32 AM#32
I think Kirby might have actually been boosted by Smash that year and not just the hype or reveals like most do.

KamikazePotato posted...
Cloud barely beating Mario in 2018 was considered an impressive result. That match used to be a 62-38.

Technically the match used to be won by Mario lol, I don't think they met between 02 and 18. But yeah.
Guinness Book of World Records is the name of the diary that belongs to azuarc, the winner of the Game of the Decade II guru contest.
Leonhart4 11/1/2023 2:44:16 AM#33
UltimaterializerX 11/1/2023 4:25:22 AM#34
KamikazePotato posted...
4-way Chief brings back memories.
Lopen’s best moment.
"Ulti you stone cold ninja bastard." -Suprak
"The enemy of my enemy is also my enemy."
Leonhart4 11/1/2023 11:47:42 AM#35
Hey now Lopen wasn't the only one who had Master Chief going deep!

Although I feel like calling Ryu's path was my best prediction from 2007.
(edited 11/1/2023 11:47:57 AM)report
_SecretSquirrel 11/1/2023 8:07:19 PM#36
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3289-division-7-round-2-leon-riku-dante-hogger

I love how everyone is all dark and brooding pretty boy, and then there's Hogger standing out like a sore thumb with sharp teeth.

https://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/cb7/cb7-46.jpg
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, azuarc, winner of Game of the Decade!
Leonhart4 11/1/2023 10:05:29 PM#37
Dante/Leon was so good in 2007, let's do it again
charmander6000 11/2/2023 5:05:55 AM#38
I think I had Riku advancing in that match because I thought something weird went on when Dante and Leon face each other (Pikachu did end up winning that 2007 match).

At least the logic held true regarding Snake/Hayabusa
Congratulations to azuarc for winning the guru challenge
Leonhart4 11/2/2023 8:03:43 PM#39
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3290-division-8-round-2-sonic-sandbag-auron-sub-zero

Auron easily beat Sonic and I feel like nobody was surprised and we didn't make a big deal out of it

This could have been Squall
_SecretSquirrel 11/2/2023 8:27:02 PM#40
It's a combination of the four way formatting meaning both Auron and Sonic advanced regardless, people attributing the upset due to Sandbag leeching Sonic, and the fact that Seph would SFF Auron into the ground next round with Sonic easily slotting into 2nd no matter what.

It's a shame we couldn't have gotten Auron vs. Sonic 1v1, because that might have been eye-opening.
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, azuarc, winner of Game of the Decade!
LeonhartFour 11/2/2023 8:28:35 PM#41
_SecretSquirrel posted...
people attributing the upset due to Sandbag leeching Sonic

I don't recall anyone doing this
ctesjbuvf 11/3/2023 1:32:04 AM#42
Sandbag is at least enough of a wild card that I wouldn't think that match is the best for judging direct matchups.
Guinness Book of World Records is the name of the diary that belongs to azuarc, the winner of the Game of the Decade II guru contest.
AxemRedRanger 11/3/2023 4:29:34 AM#43
“Genesis LFF” from Sub-Zero could help explain both that match (particularly the margin of victory - Sonic losing to Auron is sorta sensible, Sonic getting 46% on Auron is kind of eyebrow-raising) as well as why Squall almost beat Sonic in 2007 despite Sora being there to drag him down and then still narrowly failed to beat Sonic after Sora and Sub-Zero were removed!
[NO BARKLEY NO PEACE]
[NO Azuarc NO PEACE]
Leonhart4 11/3/2023 6:44:14 AM#44
Leonhart4 11/3/2023 9:25:54 PM#45
_SecretSquirrel 11/4/2023 12:28:02 AM#46
Man, it's still wild that Tifa ended up usurping Sephiroth in the FF7 chain of command.
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, azuarc, winner of Game of the Decade!
ctesjbuvf 11/4/2023 4:00:22 AM#47
Tifa has like that one loss to Sonic in her first contest and if I recall correctly only has bowed out to Sephiroth and Samus.

I at least remember her going from #2 in the x-stats to missing the damn 2007 bracket entirely despite the larger field.
Guinness Book of World Records is the name of the diary that belongs to azuarc, the winner of the Game of the Decade II guru contest.
LeonhartFour 11/4/2023 6:35:04 PM#48
Yep, Tifa is one of the few characters who has only lost to Noble Niners 1-on-1.

She could almost say it overall, but she did technically "lose" to Kratos because of Seph's presence in that match.

I don't think anyone can say they've only lost to Noble Niners in every format other than one-off 16 seeds or something.
(edited 11/4/2023 6:40:25 PM)report
LeonhartFour 11/4/2023 8:09:30 PM#49
TeamRocketElite 11/4/2023 8:11:48 PM#50
Sometimes we shouldn't let people cook.
My bracket looked like random picks compared to his.
Congrats to azuarc for winning the GotD 2020 Guru Contest!

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