Lurker > MetalmindStats

Night Trap is the only other game that looks totally out of place to me, though I was also surprised to see Power Stone with such a high seed.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

My ranking:

1. Zero
2. Auron
3. Red
4. Aerith
5. Mewtwo
6. Dante
7. Charizard
8. Donkey Kong
9. Sora
10. Squall
11. Big Boss
12. Ryu
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Vespa
Rosalina
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

MetalmindStats posted...

Here's the Day 3 topic, for ranking the Upper Midcarders: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77315461

If you missed either of the previous days, use the Day 3 topic to rank their slates.

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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Here's the Day 3 topic, for ranking the Upper Midcarders: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77315461

If you missed either of the previous days, use the Day 3 topic to rank their slates.
---

Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

*If you're wondering why Zero's here again, it's not a typo. See yesterday's topic:

MetalmindStats posted...

So I'm thinking that, as these rankings are mostly reflecting, I may have messed up by putting Zero in the Near-Elite tier instead of the Upper Midcarder tier. My idea was that 44% on Pikachu was comfortably above 46% on Sonic (comparing to Auron), but in retrospect, I don't think that's so obvious that those two should be in entirely different tiers. The problem that comes with that, of course, is that a solid 6/15 participants so far have ranked Zero at not-last, particularly with Anagram and darkx putting him at 11th. What I'm thinking I'll do to solve this is have Zero as part of the Upper Midcarder ranking as well as the Near-Elite one and, depending on those results, I may shift him down into the Upper Midcarder tier.

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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Hello everyone, and welcome to the project where we rank all the CBX characters by contest strength! This time, well be ranking the Upper Midcarders, comprised of the following characters:

Aerith (or Aeris) Gainsborough, Auron, Big Boss, Charizard, Dante, Donkey Kong, Mewtwo, Pokmon Trainer Red, Ryu, Sora, Squall Leonhart, and Zero*

Before we get going, heres the Rules:

1. If at all possible, please number your rankings (ex. 1 for the strongest character, etc.) - it makes your ranks much clearer, allowing me to tabulate them much easier.
2. Rankings of indirect strength are preferred, but direct rankings will be allowed, especially in tandem with indirect rankings.
3. Stick to one ranking per tier (or one ranking each of indirect and direct strength if you choose to separate them) - dont try to sway the standings with multiple accounts.
4. Youre always welcome to submit retroactive rankings if you missed one or more days, as well as change your existing rankings if so inclined, up until this project ends.
5. And most importantly, be nice to each other, even people you dont like! Discussion is welcomed and encouraged, but this isnt ultimately meant to be an overly serious project, so I dont want to see any knock-down, drag-out arguments developing in here about how someones not ranking by the stats or whatever else - use your discretion about this.

Heres the spreadsheet that Ill be using to record data for this project: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1s6rNxUlXY3kpo9Ru-Pyw9CjtGBIRasJKiUv6a7cEgEw/edit?usp=sharing

And here's our Board 8 Wiki page, where you can find the list of tiers, among other things: http://board8.wikia.com/wiki/Ranking_the_CBX_Characters_by_Contest_Strength

Tomorrow night, we'll be moving on to the Midcarders, but for today, heres the Upper Midcarders listed in an easy copy-paste format:

Aerith (or Aeris)
Auron
Big Boss
Charizard
Dante
Donkey Kong
Mewtwo
Red
Ryu
Sora
Squall
Zero

As for yesterday's results, here's our current ranking of the Near-Elites:

1. Crono
2. Mega Man
3. Pikachu
4. Tifa
5. Sephiroth
6. Sonic
7. MMX
8. Bowser
9. Luigi
10. Ganondorf
11. Kirby
12. Alucard
13. Vivi
14. Yoshi
15. Zero*

Some of my thoughts:
- Once again, we saw solid participation, with 18 users posting their Near-Elite rankings before the end of the day. And remember you can still chip in, even if you missed Day 2!
- Unsurprisingly, Crono, Mega Man, and Pikachu in that order distinguished themselves as the easy top three, with Crono at #1 in particular being the strongest consensus of the Near-Elite tier.
- The next strongest consensus after Crono was Zero in last. See below for an announcement regarding that.
- Most participants ranked MMX close to Tifa, but I was surprised to see two in particular place MMX as much as ten spots below Tifa, despite their near 50-50 direct match.
- Perhaps that, like the jumble of rankings, suggests that most of the Near-Elites are very close to each other (other than the top 3 and Zero), but it's hard to say for sure.
- About that jumble: MMX and Sonic in particular had extremely high standard deviations of 2.85 and 2.72, respectively, while Crono's standard deviation wound up at just 0.46.
- Finally, the obligatory secondary Mario character ranking: Bowser > Luigi >> Yoshi.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Tuesday evening bump.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Crystalis, DQ3, and River City Ransom are also notable as games from BGE2.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Kirby;Bowser

I figured DK was going to go for sure, but I guess it was Meta Knight instead!
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Morning bump.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Ike;Ganon
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

You do realize those are literally unadjusted stats you're yanking from, right?
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

DK;Meta
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Tuesday morning bump.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Oops, I missed Unreal Tournament already being in your bracket. Replace that one with Tetris Attack, then.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Meta;DK
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Here's some potential snubs I can think of, in a few different categories (and trying to avoid repetitive entries in certain series):

Games that would (probably) both make the bracket and fare well in it (arguably the only true snubs):
- Crash Bandicoot: Warped (I think it's generally considered the best Crash game, so I would expect to see it, likely over Crash 2)
- Castlevania III
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Probably the biggest of these snubs, it could easily win two matches with favorable bracket placement.)

Games that would (probably) make the bracket, but not necessarily fare well:
- Dragon Warrior / Quest III
- Phantasy Star IV
- Crystalis
- Heroes of Might and Magic III
- Mischief Makers
- Bomberman 64
- Pokmon Snap
- Dance Dance Revolution (The biggest snub by impact alone.)

And all the other potential snubs, games that wouldn't necessarily either make the bracket or fare well in it, but are worth noting anyways:
- Civilization II (The more polished and refined version of the original Civ, and arguably the one that's stood the test of time.)
- Dr. Mario
- River City Ransom
- Star Wars: TIE Fighter
- Pilotwings 64
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
- Dune II
- Command & Conquer
- Kirby's Adventure
- Disney's Aladdin (Choose one of the SNES or Genesis versions - either works as a snub, and both could easily win a match.)
- Day of the Tentacle
- Darkstalkers
- Quake
- Unreal Tournament
- Counter-Strike (Assuming mods count for determining release dates.)
- EverQuest
- Tekken 2
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

DK;Meta
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

MetalmindStats posted...

MetalmindStats posted...

Kirby;Bowser

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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

What I really liked about the Cloud vs. Mario rematch was the irony of Cloud getting the win thanks to rallying, a fact which has decently important implications for contests as a whole (along with Cloud managing to shed his bad early vote).

Also, I've already posted about how Ryu didn't actually look good at all in his pre-Sephiroth matches something like three times, so I don't care to reiterate my points, but easy comparisons and a look at the results of the characters he beat can tell the story for me.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

MetalmindStats posted...

Kirby;Bowser

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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

So I'm thinking that, as these rankings are mostly reflecting, I may have messed up by putting Zero in the Near-Elite tier instead of the Upper Midcarder tier. My idea was that 44% on Pikachu was comfortably above 46% on Sonic (comparing to Auron), but in retrospect, I don't think that's so obvious that those two should be in entirely different tiers. The problem that comes with that, of course, is that a solid 6/15 participants so far have ranked Zero at not-last, particularly with Anagram and darkx putting him at 11th. What I'm thinking I'll do to solve this is have Zero as part of the Upper Midcarder ranking as well as the Near-Elite one and, depending on those results, I may shift him down into the Upper Midcarder tier. Does that sound reasonable to everyone, or would you rather not have to rank Zero twice?

(And, if you're coming into this topic not yet having ranked the Near-Elites, please still include Zero in your ranking.)
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Haste_2 posted...

Yeah, you could say she was able to rSFF Mario and gain a % or two, but she did nothing special against Sonic, the very round after she pulled the upset on Snake.

Well, she was probably hampered there by that sprite, arguably by as much as 2-3%. Also, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if both Tifa overperformed on Samus and Samus overperformed on Snake.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Kirby;Bowser
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Ulti_PCA posted...

I also know the stats topic made up the Isaac Fodder Line, but I kind of like calling it the Pac-Man Fodder Line. Pac is the ultimate overlap apathy character. Everyone knows who he is, he's only capable of beating garbage, and anyone of any strength will destroy him. I feel obligated to remind people here that Pac-Man once lost to Nathan Drake.

I feel like Pac-Man has done enough to be given the benefit of the doubt at this point. He's at, what, 42% on Auron extrapolated and there's only so much bandwagon-fueled overperforming Geralt could have managed against Auron. Certainly, at least in this format, he's not the fodder line in the sense that Vyse was in 2003-04.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

John Wick
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

My guess for what's up next: S3&K.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

DK;Meta
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

MetalmindStats posted...

Bowser;DK

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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

_SecretSquirrel posted...

MetalmindStats posted...

(3) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Poor GoldenEye. First it misses a 7-seed, then it gets shafted in Round 2. For all that, this would probably at least be close.)

Goldeneye vs. SOTN is actually a rematch from the original games contest in one of the more contested fourpacks of that contest. Goldeneye took that one easily back then, but it looked like this result would probably flip today, and I thought both games were set up nicely for the one division with no real favorite. SMRPG vs. Street Fighter II was also set up in this division as a nod to the past.

Yeah, I noticed the SMRPG vs. SF2 bit, but I forgot that GoldenEye vs. SotN was also a 2004 match! Personally, I think Super Metroid's the pretty clear favorite in that division after its 2015 results and Samus's CBX results, but it's not guaranteed by any means.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

My ranking:

1. Crono
2. Mega Man
3. Pikachu
4. Tifa
5. MMX
6. Ganondorf
7. Luigi
8. Sonic
9. Sephiroth
10. Bowser
11. Yoshi
12. Vivi
13. Alucard
14. Kirby
15. Zero
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

garetha200 posted...

Maybe Zelda could be the Final Boss, too, which would allow for a pretty up in the air Mario/FF/Smash/Pokemon? final. There is definite precedent for it to be removed, too, since it is undefeated in the Series Contest.

This is true. I posted a link to a google document with a version with Zelda retired above.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

_SecretSquirrel posted...

SuperNiceDog posted...

(8) Yakuza vs. (9) Drakengard

Both of these are seeded way too high!!!!

Over 11) Street Figther?
Over 10) Bioshock?
Over 12) Devil May CRY???!!?!?!?!?!?!!?
Over 10) Mega Man X??!!?!?!?!!?!?!!?!?!?!!?!!?!?!?!?!?
Over 11) Kirby?!

continued...

Remember that 8 and 9s are running into the 1 seeds, so it's often a better spot to have a 11 or 12 and be able to take it to Round 3.

Not only that, but I tried to make these seeds realistic in terms of likely nominations. As we saw with CBX, both Yakuza and Drakengard are likely to fare well in that regard, more so than all the series you mentioned.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Bowser;DK
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Round 2:

Division 1

(1) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
(5) Earthbound
(6) Sonic 3 & Knuckles
(2) Final Fantasy VIII

Division 2

(1) Sonic the Hedgehog 2
(4) Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
(3) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Poor GoldenEye. First it misses a 7-seed, then it gets shafted in Round 2. For all that, this would probably at least be close.)
(2) Super Metroid

Division 3

(1) Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
(4) Spyro the Dragon
(3) Final Fantasy Tactics
(2) Mega Man X

Division 4

(1) Final Fantasy VI
(4) Mega Man 7
(3) Mario Kart 64
(2) Super Smash Bros.

Division 5

(1) Chrono Trigger
(5) Soul Calibur
(3) Final Fantasy IV
(2) Super Mario Kart (This could be surprisingly close, or SMK could prove itself a real, 2009-style contender.)

Division 6

(1) Final Fantasy VII
(12) Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (This fourpack is a whole load of confusion.)
(3) Super Castlevania IV
(2) Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakeneing

Division 7

(1) Super Mario Bros 3
(12) Donkey Kong Country
(3) Star Fox 64
(2) Metal Gear Solid

Division 8

(1) Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow
(4) Super Mario World II: Yoshi's Island (Another bias pick, though I do think Yoshi's Island is the slight favorite here regardless.)
(3) Super Mario 64
(2) Super Mario World

Round 3:

Division 1

(1) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
(2) Final Fantasy VIII

Division 2

(4) Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
(2) Super Metroid (This could be close, but Super Metroid definitely isn't dropping the ball here.)

Division 3

(1) Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
(2) Mega Man X

Division 4

(1) Final Fantasy VI
(2) Super Smash Bros. (SSB isn't losing this in the year of Smash Ultimate.)

Division 5

(1) Chrono Trigger
(2) Super Mario Kart

Division 6

(1) Final Fantasy VII
(2) Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakeneing

Division 7

(1) Super Mario Bros 3
(2) Metal Gear Solid

Division 8

(1) Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow
(3) Super Mario 64

Rounds 4 and on:

(1) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
(2) Super Metroid (See my comment on Super Metroid's previous match, only Mario + Square + JRPG makes me more confident that SMRPG can look good here.)
(1) Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
(1) Final Fantasy VI
(1) Chrono Trigger
(1) Final Fantasy VII
(1) Super Mario Bros 3
(3) Super Mario 64

(1) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
(1) Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
(1) Chrono Trigger
(3) Super Mario 64

(1) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
(1) Chrono Trigger

(1) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Overall, I like the look of your bracket. It's got some cool choices like Earthworm Jim and a good amount of contentious matches/match set-ups.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

My predictions, with bold for close matches (winner likely under 55%), and some of my interspersed comments:

Round 1:

Division 1

(1) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
(8) Secret of Mana
(5) Earthbound
(4) Banjo-Kazooie
(3) StarCraft
(6) Sonic 3 & Knuckles
(7) Mega Man 3
(2) Final Fantasy VIII

Division 2

(1) Sonic the Hedgehog 2
(9) Metroid II: Return of Samus
(5) Street Fighter II
(4) Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
(3) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
(6) Goldeneye 007
(7) Resident Evil (surprise blowout of the contest right here)
(2) Super Metroid

Division 3

(1) Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past (I bet Superman 64 comfortably breaks 10% here on joke votes alone)
(9) Dragon Quest V (My favoritism's speaking here; Parasite Eve deserves to be the favorite)
(5) Tomb Raider (I would like to see Earthworm Jim win here, but the brand name probably carries just enough weight)
(4) Spyro the Dragon
(3) Final Fantasy Tactics
(6) Fallout 2
(10) Suikoden
(2) Mega Man X (Underseeded Planescape could have actually won a match elsewhere, alas)

Division 4

(1) Final Fantasy VI
(8) Streets of Rage 2
(5) Mortal Kombat (I guess? This would be a good test of how much brand names mean)
(4) Mega Man 7
(3) Mario Kart 64
(6) Diddy Kong Racing
(10) Breath of Fire II
(2) Super Smash Bros.

Division 5

(1) Chrono Trigger
(9) Marvel vs. Capcom
(5) Soul Calibur (This could be close, but Lufia II is probably too niche even on GameFAQs to make it so.)
(4) Half-Life (See above.)
(3) Final Fantasy IV
(6) Mega Man Legends
(7) Xenogears
(2) Super Mario Kart

Division 6

(1) Final Fantasy VII
(8) Doom (Again my favoritism's speaking here; Star Fox probably wins due to its series)
(12) Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (I guess? Isn't RE3 the distinct black sheep out of the first three?)
(4) Crash Bandicoot
(3) Super Castlevania IV
(6) Kirby Super Star
(7) Suikoden II
(2) Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakeneing

Division 7

(1) Super Mario Bros 3 (Its opponent is the one game in your bracket I hadn't heard of before, so blowout city?)
(8) Sonic the Hedgehog 1
(12) Donkey Kong Country
(4) Final Fantasy V
(3) Star Fox 64
(11) Shining Force 2 (No one cares about the original GTA)
(7) F-Zero (When in doubt, Nintendo > not-Nintendo, and probably by a commanding margin)
(2) Metal Gear Solid

Division 8

(1) Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow (Or maybe this would be the blowout of the contest instead?)
(8) Mortal Kombat 2 (Tekken 3 strikes me as the more respected game, but the more relevant series should take it here)
(5) Donkey Kong Country 2
(4) Super Mario World II: Yoshi's Island
(3) Super Mario 64
(6) Sonic Adventure
(7) Final Fantasy I
(2) Super Mario World

Round 2 and on will be in another post.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

MetalmindStats posted...

Here's the Day 2 topic, for ranking the Near-Elites: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77312457

If you missed Day 1, use the Day 2 topic to rank the Elites.

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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Here's the Day 2 topic, for ranking the Near-Elites: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77312457

If you missed Day 1, use the Day 2 topic to rank the Elites.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Hello everyone, and welcome to the project where we rank all the CBX characters by contest strength! This time, well be ranking the Near-Elites, comprised of the following characters:

Alucard, Bowser, Crono, Ganondorf, Kirby, Luigi, Mega Man, Mega Man X, Pikachu, Sephiroth, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tifa Lockheart, Vivi, Yoshi, and Zero

Before we get going, heres the (slightly modified) Rules:

1. If at all possible, please number your rankings (ex. 1 for the strongest character, etc.) - it makes your ranks much clearer, allowing me to tabulate them much easier.
2. Rankings of indirect strength are preferred, but direct rankings will be allowed, especially in tandem with indirect rankings.
3. Stick to one ranking per tier (or one ranking each of indirect and direct strength if you choose to separate them) - dont try to sway the standings with multiple accounts.
4. Youre always welcome to submit retroactive rankings if you missed one or more days, as well as change your existing rankings if so inclined, up until this project ends.
5. And most importantly, be nice to each other, even people you dont like! Discussion is welcomed and encouraged, but this isnt ultimately meant to be an overly serious project, so I dont want to see any knock-down, drag-out arguments developing in here about how someones not ranking by the stats or whatever else - use your discretion about this.

Heres the spreadsheet that Ill be using to record data for this project: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1s6rNxUlXY3kpo9Ru-Pyw9CjtGBIRasJKiUv6a7cEgEw/edit?usp=sharing

Tomorrow night, we'll be moving on to the Upper Midcarders, but for today, heres the Near-Elites listed in an easy copy-paste format:

Alucard
Bowser
Crono
Ganondorf
Kirby
Luigi
Mega Man
MMX
Pikachu
Sephiroth
Sonic
Tifa
Vivi
Yoshi
Zero

As for yesterday, with Day 1's rankings in, the current ranking of the Elites (based on means) is the following:
1. Cloud Strife
2. Samus Aran
3. Mario
4. Zelda
5. Solid Snake

My thoughts:
- First off, I was pleased to see 16 participants in Day 1 alone. And remember, if you missed Day 1, you can always chip in with your own ranking of the Elites, right here!
- Only two of those 16 ranked the Elites based on who won/lost their direct matches, suggesting a broad consensus about (r)SFF, rallies, and other forms of non-transitivity affecting those matches.
- Regarding individual character rankings, the strongest consensus by far was about Snake being last among the Elites, with only three rankers putting him in fourth.
- Samus had the most first place rankings, but she was dragged down by a handful of third and fourth-place rankings, whereas no one put Cloud below third.
- And finally, the first eight rankings were all different, clearly suggesting CBX hasn't given us all the answers regarding the comparative strength of the Elites.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

_SecretSquirrel posted...

Hey, if you want some more mock bracket fun, I did an 90s Game contest bracket.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77312325

I do like me some mock brackets! Give me about 30 minutes and I'll be in there with predictions, including close matches.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Monday evening bump.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Kirby;Bowser
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Bump for the morning crowd.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

MetalmindStats posted...

Kirby;Bowser

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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Monday morning bump.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

I've finally finished listening to this episode. Good stuff, everyone, especially the guests!

A few more specific things I wanted to mention:

First, and just a minor detail, but one I've personally really grown to appreciate for its irony, is that Cloud prevailed against Mario thanks to rallies. And I can't help but think that Yo was the only B8er who was both around for both Cloud/Mario matches and got the winner he wanted out of each of them.

Second, it was pretty funny having all three of you choose the same star and turd of the past week. Samus and Mario are very good choices, too, even if I might not have chosen them as my number 1 star and turd, respectively.

Finally, my overall contest grade is B+, and like TPLink, I would rank CBX first out of the four contests I was around for (2013 to the present). The plus there is for generally excellent bracket design (excepting Allen's decision not to flip the losers' bracket positioning). There were definitely things Allen could have done better (match pictures, for one), but what's truly keeping CBX out of the A range for me is the lack of matches/results that were more than momentarily exciting for me personally. The only true F5-type match for me was Garrus vs. Ramza during the night, and that was a meaningless one-pointer. As close as Mario vs. Samus II was, I just wasn't very excited by it because of the lack of trends.
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Kirby;Bowser
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

KRool;Ivysaur
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!

Ridley;KRool
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Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!