LogFAQs > #961438786

I still haven't read a reasonable explanation for the scenario where 999 and VLR each made 2015 as 15-seeds, then VLR went up to a 10-seed in 2020 even as 999 missed the field entirely. An unpublicized two-game-per-series cap obviously doesn't help, and I have an extremely hard time believing the two games naturally went on totally different nomination trajectories. As far as I see it, Allen either filtered out lesser installments of series in some less obvious way, or he overlooked 999 being a 2010 release in North America, unlike Bayonetta and HGSS.

For what it's worth, the other three 2015 entrants to miss 2020 were Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and Splatoon (obviously obsoleted by their respective follow-ups) and Super Mario Maker (likely obsoleted by its sequel, which perhaps was subsequently subjected to whatever Allen did to flush out overrepresented franchises). I can believe that ZTD likewise affected 999 more than VLR for whatever reason, but it having done so to the extent 2020 implied at face value seems unlikely.