Contest Stats and Discussion - Part 1378

Damn look at Kingdom Hearts looking good

KH2 consistently looks great in whatever poll it's in

Whatever state the series is in now, people here still look back fondly on that one

Zidane in round 3 would've been cool

Would be fun to see the follow up version of this poll with all of these series' original games. KH would still have a very decent shot at winning though (MGS would be stronger, but likely not enough; doubt RE1 does as well as 2).

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7514-whats-your-all-time-favorite-2-game

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/9837-whats-your-all-time-favorite-2-game

For comparison. We'll see where everything ends up after 24 hours.

Still early hours yet but that’s a big drop for Mass Effect 2, looks like Diablo II being in the poll hurt it. KHII actually looks weaker but still winning. It is of course hard to tell with low votals and a few different games in the poll.

The only strength change I’m willing to confidently say is real for now is that Red Dead Redemption 2 looks a lot stronger in this poll. Which makes sense because it was only four months old at the time of the last one. I feel like RDR2 is probably the strongest Rockstar game. It does follow that it would be stronger than GTA here, it’s more story focused, has more RPG elements and a “genre” setting. Things this site likes.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3805-mushroom-division-round-2-ryu-hayabusa-vs-master-chief

There are plenty of hilarious Chief results, but this one might take the cake for one reason: Xbox SFF. Yes, people really believed that, because there were some Ninja Gaiden games on the Xbox, this would enable Master Chief to SFF Hayabusa and win.

Well, Chief led for the first couple minutes, presumably on the back of bracket voting (Hayabusa only had 15% of overall brackets and about 25% of Oracle picks), but then Hayabusa took over. He got up close to 55% before Chief's ASV made the final result a little more respectable, but this was never in doubt beyond the opening minutes.

KH2 made some decent gains with the day vote and Mass Effect 2 might reclaim second place by the end of the poll

I'd guess KH2's percentage dropped mostly because this is a stronger poll than the other one, but it's still a good showing

I wonder if we could ever get a favorite first game in a series poll

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3806-heart-division-round-2-sora-vs-laharl

Oh boy, if you didn't know Sora was in big trouble next round against Bowser before, you knew it after this result. The one thing you can say in his defense in this contest is that all his matches were night matches, but you couldn't really excuse barely doubling Laharl.

Leonhart4 posted...

KH2 made some decent gains with the day vote and Mass Effect 2 might reclaim second place by the end of the poll

I'd guess KH2's percentage dropped mostly because this is a stronger poll than the other one, but it's still a good showing

I wonder if we could ever get a favorite first game in a series poll

When accounting for the stronger competition (a.k.a. Diablo 2 eating up a lot of %), everything from the 2019 poll looks pretty stable. Exceptions are that Mass Effect 2 and Uncharted 2 fell off a bit more than the others, and Red Dead Redemption 2 actually increased by a lot.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3807-heart-division-round-2-kefka-vs-bowser

Kefka was in the 40s early on before FFVI's terrible day vote brought his final percentage down, but he still outperformed Frog on Bowser, which almost no one would have predicted before the contest started.

It's too bad we never got Kefka vs. Frog because the chaos potential would have been sky high.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3808-heart-division-round-2-l-block-vs-isaac

It's not very often match pictures get changed, but this one did because that is not, in fact, Isaac. Too bad Carl Johnson didn't get the same treatment in 2005!

Also L-Block got super lucky to get one of the weakest post-2002 fourpacks we've ever seen because this was a pretty mediocre showing.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3809-heart-division-round-2-charizard-vs-kratos

There was some debate over this match pre-contest, but after their first round showings, Charizard became the clear favorite and won with room to spare. Kratos has a weird contest history. He's never made it past round 2 outside of the two fourway contests, but he's also had some bad luck one-on-one, drawing early on opponents like Alucard, Ryu, and Pikachu.

This is also the closest I ever came to a perfect Oracle pick!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3810-varia-division-round-2-samus-aran-vs-jill-valentine

I don't know if we've ever determined who has the best board vote, but Samus has to be up there. She was over 70% early on before Jill's RE night vote brought down the final percentage.

Phoenix Wright probably

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3811-varia-division-round-2-roxas-vs-sub-zero

Not much to say about this one. Everyone expected Subby to win fairly comfortably and he did. Tidus fans lament knowing this could've been him instead. Somehow only 30% of brackets had Sub-Zero winning the fourpack.

Sub-Zero was seeded 13, probably the simple explanation.

Will still never understand Sub Zero > Scorpion.

Seanchan posted...

Will still never understand Sub Zero > Scorpion.

Blue > yellow is literally the easiest logic to follow

But Ed Boon doesn't understand it either because he tried to turn Sub-Zero into Scorpion in hopes that his favorite character will become the series favorite

Although "get over here!" is iconic, I always remembered sub zero and Raiden first. As someone who basically never touched mk except for brief moments in the 90s.

He is just cooler. Pun not intended.

Scorpion throw a spear chain thing, can teleport, has a skull for a head (in the early games), and can breathe fire. And has the most iconic line in the series.

Sub Zero throws ice balls.

I hate that it really probably is a blue > yellow thing.

Sub-Zero also ripped people's spines out, which might have been the most brutal Fatality in the first game

Seanchan posted...

Scorpion throw a spear chain thing, can teleport, has a skull for a head (in the early games), and can breathe fire. And has the most iconic line in the series.

Sub Zero throws ice balls.

I hate that it really probably is a blue > yellow thing.

Don't forget Sub-Zero can make ice swords since Deadly Alliance.

Yeah, the spine rip out was pretty cool.

I'm only talking "classic" MK here, so basically pre-MK4.

Sub-Zero is a way cooler name too.

Sub-Zero also had a more interesting story in pre Netherrealm games.

Seanchan posted...

Scorpion throw a spear chain thing, can teleport, has a skull for a head (in the early games), and can breathe fire. And has the most iconic line in the series.

Sub Zero throws ice balls.

I hate that it really probably is a blue > yellow thing.

I don't really agree. But this post is also deliberately making one sound cool and the other lame, so it's not like he only has the color.

But Scorpion has something going for him over Sub-Zero. How many characters finished in top 8 of a contest here? That's pretty rare.

Noble Nine
Zelda
Charizard
Scorpion

In 1v1 that's technically the full thing! Though if looking at main brackets only it's also:

Bowser
Vincent
Tifa
Yuna

If including four ways it's also:
L-Block
Master Chief
Dante
Kirby

And if including 3-ways I'm not sure who gets 9th but we add
Draven
Mewtwo
Pikachu
Squirtle (unless he gets 9th)

Villains and rivals certainly don't count.

That became a longer post than intended, but it's an exclusive party no matter how much you include.

ctesjbuvf posted...

I don't really agree. But this post is also deliberately making one sound cool and the other lame, so it's not like he only has the color.

I'm just stating the facts!

(FYI, while I'm absolutely Scorpion > Sub Zero, I still do like the latter too. Also, you know, this is all just in good fun; don't think I'm over here getting all crazy.)

Leonhart4 posted...

Blue > yellow is literally the easiest logic to follow

I think it's mainly this, and I argued it vehemently before Sub's first contest, when I recall most of the board thinking he might be a tad behind Scorpion. You're taking like the most popular color among boys and pitting it against the most popular color among no one. The other factors (Sub-Zero having the cooler name, the original "oh s***" fatality, and the freezing ice attack) likely also play a role in setting him apart.

I don't think I've ever brought this up before, but the more surprising popularity split to me was always Ryu > Ken.

Hear me out, boys

Like with Mortal Kombat, I firmly believe that the hierarchy of popularity in Street Fighter was established in our community way back when the franchise was fresh - like early 90s fresh. That's when SFII hit the arcades and home consoles like a tornado. And unless someone can give me some real convincing evidence to the contrary... back then, there wasn't much that actually established Ryu as the face of the franchise (apart from his holding the upper lefthand character slot, which is pretty frivolous even for back then).

Ryu was one of eight characters. Yes, he was one of the coolest in that group, with the fireball and the epic attack names, but Ken also had all that. The difference is that, in this scenario, it was Ken who had the cooler color (red > white), the more memorable stage music, and the less strange and thus potentially cooler name. Ryu was eventually established as the face of the franchise, but not until later, when the franchise was less relevant and any story or character changes would not have had much impact on the hierarchy of SF popularity in a place like GameFAQs.

The closest thing I have to a theory is that this intro was just that impactful in 1993:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C61kVadGEo

Well I'm Ken > Ryu too so what the hell do I know!

This is from before my time, but wasn't Ryu the only/main character in SF 1?

Edit: Also, he's the main Japanese character so I assume that gave him a boost in Japan.

SF1 actually had both Ryu and Ken, though it's kind of a moot point. For at least like 95% of gamers familiar with the franchise, it started with SF2.

Ryu got that epic intro cutscene in Super, which released one or two years later, but I don't think he became "the guy" until the Alpha games and SF3, by which point the series overall had gotten way less relevant. The movie was a big deal in 1994, but Guile was the lead in that.

Yeah, I was a proponent of Sub-Zero > Scorpion (and Master Chief) from the beginning

Ryu > Ken is probably a little more complicated. Ryu has the red bandana, which was super cool, and the white gi is just a classic, clean look.

Probably an underrated factor in Ryu's favor was the SF2 anime, where he was undeniably the coolest character, and all the games after that ran with his characterization from it, too, because of how well received it was.

And yeah, SF1 is essentially irrelevant for this. Most people haven't played it.

Leonhart4 posted...

KH2 made some decent gains with the day vote and Mass Effect 2 might reclaim second place by the end of the poll

I'd guess KH2's percentage dropped mostly because this is a stronger poll than the other one, but it's still a good showing

I wonder if we could ever get a favorite first game in a series poll

Pokemon Red/Blue wins easily, right? No other first game in a major series here is nearly as popular.

MacArrowny posted...

Pokemon Red/Blue wins easily, right? No other first game in a major series here is nearly as popular.

Well, I'd imagine we'd get a lot of Nintendo options (Mario 1, Zelda 1, etc.) so that maybe some other option could sneak it out, but yeah, it probably wins.

Ryu > Ken seems like simple "main character" bias. Yeah, it's a fighting game, but Ryu has an iconic look and he's always pushed as the main character with a main story.

Liu Kang never really had an iconic look and is never really pushed by the Mortal Kombat fans. The story also never really focuses on Liu Kang too much.

Sub-Zero > Scorpion probably does come down to blue > yellow, but I always liked the mask-less Sub-Zero look from MK3!

The red bandana is a pretty cool look, never gonna argue against that. I also forgot about Ryu giving the great Sagat his scar, which is about as central a plot point as SFII has (the bar is really low there). Was that a major plot point even in the original SFII, or did it become a bigger deal later?

Leonhart4 posted...

Blue > yellow is literally the easiest logic to follow

It really is this simple. Blue is humanity's favorite color.

YoBlazer posted...

The red bandana is a pretty cool look, never gonna argue against that. I also forgot about Ryu giving the great Sagat his scar, which is about as central a plot point as SFII has (the bar is really low there). Was that a major plot point even in the original SFII, or did it become a bigger deal later?

It was the entirety of Sagat's story in SF2 (and the Alpha games) that he wanted revenge on Ryu for the scar, and that it sent him down such a dark path that he joined forces with Bison.

It actually became less of a deal in SF4 because Sagat was essentially over it by then and he and Ryu were just friendly rivals at that point.

I feel like if you played enough games, Ryu still looks like the main character. He has the stoic hero personality where Ken has that P2 I'm the cooler rougher version.

Then again, I do feel like there was a game that starts with Ken's theme

Ken got to be main character in Street Fighter 2010, the greatest Street Fighter game of all!

A futuristic setting that is somehow now 15 years ago!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3812-varia-division-round-2-jecht-vs-ratchet

Tidus: 10 contests, 0 third round appearances
Jecht: 1 contest, 1 third round appearance

Also it was nice to see Ratchet go from bottom of the barrel fodder to respectable fodder out of nowhere! I don't know where this Playstation platforming mascot boost came from, but at least it helped Ratchet get a contest win!

Ratchet vs Astro Bot. Who wins?

As someone who doesn't play MK, it's blue and ice moves > yellow and (whatever Scorpion uses here)

Jecht getting to round 3 in one go is so ironic.

Seanchan posted...

I'm just stating the facts!

(FYI, while I'm absolutely Scorpion > Sub Zero, I still do like the latter too. Also, you know, this is all just in good fun; don't think I'm over here getting all crazy.)

Yeah I know it's all in good fun.

LeonhartFour posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3812-varia-division-round-2-jecht-vs-ratchet

Tidus: 10 contests, 0 third round appearances
Jecht: 1 contest, 1 third round appearance

11 and 2 respectively, if you count the Rivalry Rumble.