Lurker > BlAcK TuRtLe

I feel like 2000/1990 will be the first match to go below a 60-40, but even then I don't think it will ever be close enough to be interesting. Beyond that, the only other round 1 match I see even getting close to a 60-40 is 2015/2005
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

NowItsAngeTime posted...

so 2008/2009 will likely be our first close-ish match?

If 2008 falls below a doubling I will be shocked
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

ffmasterjose posted...

So are we expecting 2008 to soundly beat 2009 tmrw? I haven't seen much discussion about that one.

Pretty much. I would take MGS4, Brawl, Fallout 3 and GTA4 over anything in 2009, let alone all 4 of them combined.
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

CaptainOfCrush posted...

BlAcK TuRtLe posted...

The dark horse that noone on Board 8 sees coming, but propels me to Guru championdom

It was a great win for you but 30% of Gurus did have MM. It wasn't a Knuckles > Magus upset or anything.

Try 13% that had MM getting to the semifinals. And of that 13%, only my bracket was in contention.
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

On the down side, today does not bode well for 1991. 1994/1991 is almost an identical style of matchup to 1987/1985. Here's hoping the Mario/Sonic combo'd with the most powerful console is enough to overcome the stellar lineup of 1994.
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

LeonhartFour (Topic Creator)13 hours ago#487
BlAcK TuRtLe posted...

Heh, looks like my prediction of 1987 being the Majora's Mask of this contest is coming true. Feelin real good about the 1987 > 1995 upset.



what does that even mean

The dark horse that noone on Board 8 sees coming, but propels me to Guru championdom
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

Heh, looks like my prediction of 1987 being the Majora's Mask of this contest is coming true. Feelin real good about the 1987 > 1995 upset.
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

LeonhartFour posted...

Eh, I don't think BotW really matters that much. GameFAQs is always high on Zelda.

I couldn't disagree more. When was the last time Zelda had a universally loved release? Skyward Sword was lol, Twilight Princess didn't meet expectations, Wind Waker was divisive and so was Majora's Mask.
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

transience posted...

still not as crazy as these

What in the absolute shitfuck!?
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

Team Rocket Elite posted...

For the longest time I had no idea that Kuribo was just the Japanese name for Goomba and it wasn't translated when referring to Kuribo's shoe for some reason. Same with Jugem's Cloud and Jugem being the Japanese name for Lakitu.

Holy fuck, mind = blown
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

I honestly don't think the order of the pictures matters as much as you think it does.

Now certain games being down-right excluded from the match picture i could definitely see as a concern.
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

LeonhartFour posted...

BlAcK TuRtLe posted...

ALl people need to see is a Triforce or Link sprite and 1987 will run away with it.

Mario 1 beat Zelda 1 twice in 2009

List of things that make that a useless match:

- that match was 8 years ago
- that match has way more votes than this one
- 1987 has a better supporting cast
- Breath of the Wild is hot and I think Zelda will have a very strong showing in general this year
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

LeonhartFour posted...

The way the pictures are presented favors 1985 by a lot because Mario 1 is such a widely respected game that it'll get a lot of votes for that reason alone, if people don't bother to stick around to see that 1987 actually has a lot more going for it.

ALl people need to see is a Triforce or Link sprite and 1987 will run away with it.
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

Realtalk though, 1994 might be the actual best year in gaming, even though it won't win the contest
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

transience posted...

like, it's got a better Final Fantasy, a better Sonic, a top Mega Man and Super Metroid which is probably a top 15 game on the site. 91 has.. Mario World, basically. you have to rely on the Mario vs. Sonic rivalry which won't even play in this format anyway if pics are cycling.

1991 seems like an oddity to me, and one of the matches we won't be able to apply standard logic to. On paper, 1994 has the much stronger smorgasboard of games, but the history of Sonic vs Mario, in addition to the SNES, I think 1991 is a great upset pick. I'm actually surprised it is the favourite though, I picked it thinking it would be a good upset pick to help diversify my bracket. Oh well.
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

_SecretSquirrel posted...

https://gamefaqs.akamaized.net/images/byg/r1/1981.jpg
https://gamefaqs.akamaized.net/images/byg/r1/2006.jpg

https://gamefaqs.akamaized.net/images/byg/r1/1978.jpg
https://gamefaqs.akamaized.net/images/byg/r1/2005.jpg

2005 with the Objection as it's banner sprite. Amazing.

Interesting, have to say 1981 wins the picture battle for sure
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

Just checked, no duplicate brackets to mine, but me and DpOblivion are real close, only 2 matches different.

2 former Gurus with similar brackets, I like those odds
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

You Could Be Mine

Honourable mentions to November Rain and Rocket Queen though
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

LusterSoldier posted...

Terastodon posted...

Thanks, as per always for the contest. Would you be willing to implement something like the very hastily constructed MSPaint image I'm embedding below for the main page?



This allows people at least a slightly better overview of the years, using the data you gave us at the start of the contest than whatever picture is first in the rotation. (BTW, rotating pics look great)

This is a great idea.

I was quite disappointed when I found out that hovering over the match pictures does not reveal the notable games and system releases from their respective year, like we had during the Vote-In polls.

In addition, I have heard of some reports of the rotating match pictures not working for some people. There is one known case of someone on Firefox 40.0 (a browser from August 2015) that does not get the rotating match picture. In the event the rotating match pictures do not work for some people, it's good to provide a fallback by listing the notable games and system releases when you hover over the match picture.

Who on earth is using that old a version of Firefox?
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

redrocket_pub posted...

cyko posted...

That's why I put "after school" in quotes. I feel like trends still often shifted around that 3:00 - 5:00 PM Eastern time period.

It's when the voters get a chance to sneak in a vote right after picking the kids up from school and dropping them off at soccer/ t-ball/dance/piano practice etc.

SMV

Soccer Mom Vote
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

Haste_2 posted...

Oh, man. I had no idea 1987 had so little support against 1995. I guess everyone took The Show's advice to heart. I changed to 1987 at the last minute, though. I'm probably screwed now. You could call it my big upset special of the contest. The rest of my bracket is pretty much cookie-cutter.

It's a good upset to have, Zelda is riding high, and 1995 is resting solely on CT, which let's be honest, wasn't impactful to the history of videogames.
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

This actually looks pretty cool. I'm surprised I've never heard of it, considering my love for other schmups
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

If you guys care that much about it, just host it yourselves.

For me, all i need is oracle and Guru
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

charmander6000 posted...

So outside of the oracle (and guru) there aren't any other contests going on?

Eh, those were the only contests worthwhile anyways
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

I'm absolutely shocked that 1995 is so favoured over 1987.
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

I stand corrected
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian_Legend

If this is the quality we can expect from the match pictures, we might be in serious trouble
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

So I was curious what this 'Guardian Legend' game was, and did a quick google... this game came out in 1988, not 1989

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian_Legend
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

LeonhartFour posted...

BlAcK TuRtLe posted...

1989 might be in trouble if people confuse Mario Bros for Super Mario Bros

Mario Bros. was in the pic in the vote-in and 1983 still got crushed.

Ah, didn't even know there were vote-ins, just came back last week
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

pjbasis posted...

Those are the four most notable games of 1989?

Probably should've put Castlevania 3 or Golden Axe in there
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

https://gamefaqs.akamaized.net/images/byg/r1/1979.jpg
https://gamefaqs.akamaized.net/images/byg/r1/2009.jpg

https://gamefaqs.akamaized.net/images/byg/r1/1983.jpg
https://gamefaqs.akamaized.net/images/byg/r1/1989.jpg

1989 might be in trouble if people confuse Mario Bros for Super Mario Bros
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

Lightning Strikes posted...

Consoles, depth of games, the decline of FF7, the strength of 2001's top games.

Fair enough, though I thought FF7 has been rebounding since vote totals started taking a shit
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

This should be a fun contest, I have no idea what the percentages are going to be like.

Wildcard Round

2009 with 65.34%
1989 with 59.33%
2006 with 73.12%
2005 with 68.58%

Round 1
1995 with 58.88%
1987 with 52.72%
2001 with 62.81%
2008 with 54.73%
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

Even if people give weight to consoles, the Gamecube and Xbox are not exactly paragons of quality and strength.
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

Just curious what the reasoning is here, I don't see it.

Also, can someone explain why people have 1995 getting that far? Literally the only game in 1995 is Chrono Trigger, can't see that beating 1987 for 'smart gamerfaqs', especially given the stock of the Zelda franchise at this moment.
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

*Edit - whoops forgot my tiebreaker

Tiebreaker: 1100000

2009
1989
2006
2005

1995
1987
2001
2008
1997
2007
2000
1996
1991
2002
1994
2006
1998
1992
2003
2015

1987
2001
1997
2000
1991
1994
1998
2003

2001
1997
1991
1998

1997
1998

1998
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

azuarc posted...

probably something terrible. A good guru pick is hard, because you want it to be something that wouldn't have or barely would have made the bracket, but still has a right to be there and at least look respectable in round 1. There probably aren't a ton of characters or games that you can project would get snubbed (or screwed by bracket placement) that you can also objectively say deserve better. Not in foresight, at least.

By this token, the Rivalry Contest nomination (MMX/Zero) is the best Guru pick of all time
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats

Gundammike posted...

azuarc posted...

Assuming they have no licensing issues?

Super Mario World (duh)
Super Metroid (duh)
Link to the Past (duh)
Chrono Trigger
FFIV or FFVI
Donkey Kong Country
Street Fighter II
Super Castlevania IV
TMNT: Turtles in Time
Kirby Super Star
F-Zero
Mega Man X

That's 12. So then it's just a question of what gaps they think they need to fill, assuming there's no issues with including any of these. There's no sports here, so maybe NBA Jam. SimCity also seems like another potential.

I highly doubt that the ones I bolded would make it.

SF2 is a quintessential game for the SNES, and NES classic had MM2 and Final Fantasy.
---

DpObliVion, my hat is off to you. Welcome to the Guru Champions Club
lol xstats