Contest Stats and Discussion - Part 1375 - Thank you, Allen!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1635-division-8-round-2-donkey-kong-vs-the-legend-of-zelda

Somehow this was only the second highest percentage Zelda 1 put up this contest...!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3477-division-8-round-1-fallout-3-halo-3-left-4-dead-mass-effect

We haven't seen too many franchises make the giant leap after a second game that Mass Effect did. Uncharted is the most comparable since Nathan Drake debuted by losing to CATS.

16 was and still is great. I’m currently playing the dlc.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1636-division-8-round-2-pong-vs-tetris

Featuring one of the greatest match pics of all-time: The Pong Paddle vs. the I-Block!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3478-division-1-round-2-tetris-donkey-kong-mega-man-2-pac-man

I think Mega Man 2 was the favorite here, so for Tetris to win so cleanly was a bit of a surprise.

LeonhartFour posted...

I think Mega Man 2 was the favorite here, so for Tetris to win so cleanly was a bit of a surprise.

Going into the contest, I'd say that was the case. But Round 1 pretty much told everyone what would happen here.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1637-division-16-round-2-chrono-trigger-vs-super-mario-rpg

There was some debate about whether there was SFF in this result. I imagine there may have been a little bit because Mario RPG is legit, but this was a very strong version of CT, so it probably wasn't too much.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3479-division-1-round-2-smb-1-ninja-gaiden-zelda-i-metroid

I think Mario 1 vs. Zelda 1 was a highly anticipated match because people were curious to see how the hierarchy would fall. After all, Zelda 1 put up a very respectable showing against Mario 3 in 2004, and Zelda usually wins against Mario. Mario 1 can't beat Halo, but it took down Zelda 1 anyway.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1638-division-16-round-2-sonic-the-hedgehog-2-vs-super-mario

This was the only match I missed in this division. My thinking was that there were multiple Mario games and only one Sonic game, so surely people would side with Sonic on this one. Whoops!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3480-division-2-round-2-sonic-1-sfii-smb-3-monkey-island

Mario laying the smackdown on Sonic again, but Sonic still manages to hold off Street Fighter II and advance anyway. I was kinda surprised Sonic 1 didn't seem that much weaker than Sonic 2 (though I suspect Sonic 2 would lay an SFF beatdown on Sonic 1 if they ever faced each other directly).

I wonder if Metroid 1 is actually decent but it just got super crushed

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1639-division-16-round-2-the-legend-of-zelda-a-link-to-the-past

I wonder what the percentages look like in this one now after we saw Super Metroid go toe to toe with Majora's Mask, which went toe to toe with LttP.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3481-division-2-round-2-smw-ff1-ff2-mega-man-3

Poor Mega Man 3, couldn't even beat SFF'd FF1.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1640-division-16-round-2-doom-vs-final-fantasy-iii-vi

This match went pretty much as expected. Not much else to say.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3482-division-3-round-2-s-metroid-s-mario-kart-zelda-lttp-dk

Super Mario Kart proving the previous round wasn't a fluke, and LttP proving 2004 wasn't a fluke. Oh, and Donkey Kong Country was here, too!

DKC's performance wasn't really bad either, all things considered. It's against a super-powerful Zelda game, a close race for second that everyone knew would be close because it already happened last round, and it overlaps with everything since it's all Nintendo on the same console. Every possible factor in this match worked against DKC here.

And yet, it stayed well above 10% when the last few matches had last place entrants going into single percentages despite having much better draws.

Last Place Factor was a weird one. Completely random whether it would happen or not.

I think DKC was just that strong to withstand LPF enough to get nearly 12% here when it had every reason to underperform even worse here, especially compared to Mega Man 3 the previous day.

Almost like the DKC series could have some starch in it if it wasn't stuck against 16 bit juggernauts (cue DKC2's 2015 little run into round 3).

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1641-division-32-round-2-final-fantasy-vii-vs-xenogears

Probably the worst possible opponent for Xenogears, and even then, 20% isn't terrible against peak FFVII.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3483-division-3-round-2-ff3-zelda-la-sonic-2-mk2

This was considered a really bad look for FFVI to let Link's Awakening get this close to it, but we'll never know just how strong LA is. Overall, this contest didn't seem like a good showing for the game.

I also think LA was just really strong back then. At the risk of using results 6 years apart, it put up better numbers against MMX than FFX.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3456-division-3-round-1-ff3-mega-man-x-ps-iv-zelda-la
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/6116-best-game-ever-day-17-round-2-mega-man-x-vs-final-fantasy-x

Yeah, Link's Awakening was a top 3 snub in 2015. Would have loved to see how it would have done there.

Hmmm.
Brawl, Mario 1, Link's Awakening?

Mario 1, Link's Awakening, Zelda 1

Put any of those three in Mario RPG's spot, and I take them to the Final Four.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1642-division-32-round-2-final-fantasy-tactics-vs-metal-gear

I miss how strong FF used to be here. Tactics was probably the, what, 6th strongest FF at the time, and it went down to the wire with MGS1.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3484-division-4-round-2-goldeneye-s-mario-rpg-ff7-mariokart64

It's kind of a shame we didn't get to see Mario Kart 64 again in 2015 because we didn't really get to see its true strength here.

_SecretSquirrel posted...

Yeah, Link's Awakening was a top 3 snub in 2015. Would have loved to see how it would have done there.

just another reason to do game of the 90s

Also the #1 2015 snub will always be Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Never forgive, never forget

Leonhart4 posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3484-division-4-round-2-goldeneye-s-mario-rpg-ff7-mariokart64

It's kind of a shame we didn't get to see Mario Kart 64 again in 2015 because we didn't really get to see its true strength here.

If you asked anyone in 2009 which game was most likely to make the semi-finals in the next Games contest (while noting that no other game in the match would), I don't think anyone would pick Mario RPG.

No PotD today

Admins forgot to set-up a poll for today.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1643-division-32-round-2-castlevania-symphony-of-the-night-vs

A solid performance for GoldenEye

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3485-division-4-round-2-s-mario-64-csotn-c-trigger-yoshis-island

But it doesn't compare with what Mario 64 and Chrono Trigger did to SotN...! Seriously though, I think a lot of people were surprised Mario 64 beat CT despite Yoshi's Island being here. The game really was a beast this contest.

Mario 64 was a beast, but CT never did well when votals were super high. It's a game that thrives when the absolute core of this site has the biggest share of the votes.

Chrono Trigger was the heavy favorite going into the match, yes. The average oracle had it way ahead.

_SecretSquirrel posted...

Mario 64 was a beast, but CT never did well when votals were super high. It's a game that thrives when the absolute core of this site has the biggest share of the votes.

Yeah, that aspect of CT was often discussed, but I think it was partly coincidence. 2006-2009 was a low point for the series and a high point for our vote totals. CT still did poorly in 2013, even when we had lower vote totals, and Crono did just fine in 2002 and 2003.

That match was a harbinger of doom. Mario 64 + Yoshi's Island was already at around 48%, requiring CT to win some outrageously high percentage of SOTN votes to beat Mario 64 heads up.

Leonhart4 posted...

Yeah, that aspect of CT was often discussed, but I think it was partly coincidence. 2006-2009 was a low point for the series and a high point for our vote totals. CT still did poorly in 2013, even when we had lower vote totals, and Crono did just fine in 2002 and 2003.

I don't really count 2002 and 2003 when discussing CT strength relative to votals, because it wasn't THAT old yet. It's still reasonable at that point to expect more visitors to know CT when it's one whole generation closer to release.

But in 2013's case, I think Crono was just screwed by bad bracket placement, both in terms of Magus being in the match and Pikachu being a lot stronger than people realized going into, and even after the contest, and I think both Crono and Pikachu's 2018 performances validate this in hindsight.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1644-division-32-round-2-super-mario-64-vs-the-legend-of-zelda

SFF was such a different beast back in the day. It's crazy to think a game as beloved as Mario 64 could be tripled by anything, but OoT was such a monster.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3486-division-5-round-2-pokemon-zelda-mm-mgs-pokemon-gs

This was the match that made Majora vs. G/S/C in GotD so debated because you could argue that R/B/Y would naturally affect another Pokemon game more than a Zelda game. Also R/B/Y was such a beast this year that it basically took two other Nintendo games in the poll with it for it to lose.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1645-division-32-round-2-starcraft-vs-kingdom-hearts

The only 2004 Starcraft match with no drama or controversy attached!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3487-division-5-round-2-ff8-starcraft-zelda-oot-ff9

As an FFVIII fan on a board that overrates FFIX more than any other game in the series, I'll always have this.

I would say KH was oddly weak back then, but honestly that entire division was a mess.

Yeah, I recall that KH was oddly weak for a game that boosted a bunch of characters by so much.

It was a mess, but it was a hot mess.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1646-division-128-round-2-the-legend-of-zelda-the-wind-waker-vs

During this contest, we would occasionally have a POTD running concurrently, which pushed the match down on the front page and was partially to blame for the lower vote totals this contest had compared to SC2K3.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1590-what-do-you-think-is-the-highest-rated-gamecube-game-of-all

Well, this poll ran a couple weeks before this match and basically spoiled the result, which was bad news for me because I had Prime winning!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3488-division-6-round-2-ffx-mgs2-k-hearts-gtavc

Kingdom Hearts seemed to do very well with the 4-way format and higher vote totals. FFX couldn't blow KH away and Squall couldn't blow Sora away in 2007 or 2008 either. If only KH3 hadn't been another decade away from release!

I have a theory that anti-votes have to be split 3 different ways in 4-way matches, which benefitted the likes of Kingdom Hearts, Halo, and GTA.

Yeah, it was harder to anti-vote with this format, which probably helped some series. Not needing 50% of the vote to advance was beneficial, too, so if you had a dedicated base despite the anti-voting, you could do some damage.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1647-division-128-round-2-final-fantasy-tactics-advance-vs-final

This result still kinda baffles me. How did FFX only double FFTA? Was it getting votes from people who haven't played it but were fans of the original Tactics? It's not like this spoke poorly of FFX's strength because it went toe to toe with Melee the next round despite the absurd pic disadvantage (believe me, we'll get to that when the time comes).

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3489-division-6-round-2-diablo-iilod-halo-ssbm-zelda-ww

LOL Halo, couldn't even beat SFF'd Wind Waker

Tactics Advance did double Fire Emblem the round before. I think there was just a very brief point in time where it was a well-regarded game.

KamikazePotato posted...

Tactics Advance did double Fire Emblem the round before. I think there was just a very brief point in time where it was a well-regarded game.

I dunno, I feel like that was just the result of the power the FF name held back then, and FE was still relatively obscure around these parts.

FFTA did come out less than a year before this match, so maybe it was still in the honeymoon period. Who knows!

There was definitely a honeymoon period. It took some time for the discourse about Marche and the wack-ass plot to proliferate. If you held FE/FFTA again these days I wouldn't be that surprised if the result completed flipped.

Yeah, I'd expect FE to win that these days, not just because FFTA's reputation has tanked, but because FF in general isn't what it used to be and FE is much more popular now.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1648-division-128-round-2-grand-theft-auto-vice-city-vs-super

Remember when GTA was worth something here? How lopsided is this match now?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3490-division-7-round-2-oblivion-tos-mgs3-wow

I'd say solid showings for all the games involved here.

Over 20% for fourth place is always impressive yeah.

GTA was still worth something in GotD2 but a lot less for sure.

Leonhart4 posted...

Yeah, I'd expect FE to win that these days, not just because FFTA's reputation has tanked, but because FF in general isn't what it used to be and FE is much more popular now.

Although Fire Emblem 7 has its own issues nowadays. That game's reputation among more hardcode fans has generally been on the poor side for over a decade now.

ctesjbuvf posted...

Over 20% for fourth place is always impressive yeah.

GTA was still worth something in GotD2 but a lot less for sure.

GTA seems to actively buck the trend that virtually every other series follows unless there's a good reason. Most series tend to be strongest closer to the 90s. GTA's strength is solely on the most recent game. GTA V probably wouldn't hold up to what it did in 2015 or GotD 2020, especially when VI hits.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1649-division-8-semifinals-super-mario-bros-3-vs-final-fantasy

Ah, the glory days when the original Final Fantasy could break 40% on (presumably) the strongest Mario game at the time.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3491-division-7-round-2-re4-k-hearts-2-zelda-tp-half-life-2

Spoilers for Game of the Decade: I used this result to justify picking KH2 > TP. Whoops!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1650-division-8-semifinals-the-legend-of-zelda-vs-tetris

90%+ in round 1, 80%+ in round 2, and 70%+ in round 3. Quite a run Zelda 1 had this contest.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3492-division-8-round-2-ssbb-gta4-cod-4-s-mario-g

...I wonder if Brawl could still win this match. I guess Galaxy should be the favorite now, but it's not trustworthy in contests.

I think Brawl would still be a strong entrant. It's main issue is actually getting enough nominations to get into the bracket in the first place.

I’ve come around on Brawl. 4 was so bad that it made Brawl look great in retrospect. At least brawl had an identity and a sense of fun (on a console people actually had)

no way would I nominate any smash over Ultimate and/or Melee though

ZenOfThunder posted...

I’ve come around on Brawl. 4 was so bad that it made Brawl look great in retrospect

This is quite a take given people stopped caring about Brawl because of 4. 4 was just made more obsolete by Ultimate than any other game, but everyone liked it.