LogFAQs > #914718814

Now that I have ngamer's thoughts on the bracket, I can do some final thoughts before letting it purge.

The tiers are pretty similar to the first thing I laid out in the planning stage. I actually have a Noble 9 of sorts that I think won't lose to anything else.

Ocarina of Time
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy VII
Pokemon
Mario World
Mario 3
Mario 64
Link to the Past
Final Fantasy VI

In fact, these are the top 9 in the adjusted x-stats for 2015, with Majora's Mask being the first ineligible game as #10. Super Metroid is the next 90s game in the stats, and it's fairly ahead of Mario RPG, and then you have MGS, MMX, Castlevania, FF8, and Goldeneye all fairly close to each other.

I went with Division 2 being the battle of the upper-midcard, with Mario RPG and Super Metroid being the clear favorites of the division (Metroid looked a little stronger in 2015, but you can't count out Mario RPG's dual Square/Nintendo heritage at all), and there's a few other games that can play spoiler here. SotN vs. Super Metroid in the battle of Metroidvanias would be interesting if it happened (Goldeneye still landed really close to SOTN last time around, and it has done it before), and there's a few contest nostalgia moments in there as well. Street Fighter II is a bit of a wildcard simply because it missed 2015, and if it can still keep it close to Mario RPG in the rematch... Even Sonic 2 (because you know a Sonic game will be a one seed in a 90s bracket) might be due an overperformance here when you consider "Smart Voter FAQs" likely considering Sonic a product of the 90s, especially if it gets the match with Mario RPG, and if nothing else, it's casual bait there as a one seed for casuals to overestimate.

There are two aspects of BGE3 that I decided were worth doing again, and the obvious one is the Mario/Pokemon showdowns, but I rearranged it slightly so that Pokemon would hit the two games it didn't get the chance to face first, and then put Mario 3 at the end of the gauntlet, avoiding the rematch unless Pokemon actually makes it, and then you've at least got Pokemon RBY vs. Mario 3 part 2 much later in the bracket (bracket will likely be two matches per day, for one) and with the context of Pokemon beating the other entries earlier in the bracket, which might cause the rematch to go in a bit different direction.

The other was keeping Ocarina away from the likes of FF7, Chrono Trigger, and Pokemon until the finals. Those are the only three games I can see pulling the big upset, but I really think they have a better shot in the context of the contest finals with everything at stake, as opposed to bonus. I'm not really fond of taking games out of the bracket, especially CT which hasn't won a contest, and we always see those late rounds looking a little weird, so I'd rather use the second half of the bracket to crown a decisive number 2 game, and hope it can give Ocarina a close match in the finals.

Meanwhile, I set up Ocarina against LTTP in the semis so I wouldn't risk a Zelda vs. Zelda finals, and then let the winner of the Super Metroid/Castlevania/Mario RPG/Goldeneye/SF2/Sonic 2 division run into Ocarina hoping it might turn a few voters against the Zelda always wins train in the quarter finals. I might actually switch those two divisions around in a Version 2 bracket so that LttP draws Ocarina in the quarter finals while the stacked Super Metroid/Castlevania/Mario RPG/Goldeneye/SF2/Sonic 2 winner draws Ocarina in the semis, so that match is a bit fresher in people's minds heading into the finals.
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