Board 8 > Contest Stats and Discussion - Part 1278

(+) Yeah! (+)

I dont think 4chan vote stuffers care about our contests much, we arent visible or corporate enough to bother with

Huge insane fanbases are another story tho
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4chan tried once with Battletoads but it was back when we were still too big for it to matter

they could make mincemeat of our contests nowadays if they wanted to
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ironically now we are so small that 4chan probably wouldn't bother

i don't think board 8 as a community is also big enough or passionate enough anymore to get "angry" to feed them and make it worth it either

like you got us nerds in these topics but eh I don't think i'd be really upset if 4chan crashed a contest cuz I expect some dumb fanbase to come in and make Tracer or Sans win anyway
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I don't even think Mario had a bad showing in 2013 at all. Sharing fanbases in three ways mattered a lot and I really don't think anyone could hold him down more than Ganondorf could without beating him. Perhaps Samus, but that's it then. That plus low votals and rallies put him in a ridiculous spot. The bracket was designed to make him look bad.

I mean, everyone picked Mario without even thinking about it, but I really don't think it's too surprising in hindsight. I suppose FFIX got better over the years.
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It's not like Mario was weak or anything, but nobody expected him to lose in either round 2 or round 3 despite fanbase splitting being likely in both situations. It's not like Mario lost by very much either, so if he was weaker than normal, that would've made the difference.

I'm just angry Vivi did it first because it meant Squall couldn't.
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i think mario, DK, Sonic and a lot of the characters have varying degrees of "Pac-Man Fever," where they are considered beloved classics but they have a ton of crossover with literally every other franchise because EVERYONE has played Mario, DK and Sonic games, they're just more loved and relevant than Pac-Man

but if I see Ganondorf in a match with Mario hell yeah I'm voting for Ganondorf

and if I find out Vivi is close to pulling a huge upset then hell yeah I'm voting for Vivi, even though I don't care for FFIX all that much

I'm just not that loyal to Mario. I'm sure some people are but I think there are also a ton like me. Where the rabid Mario and DK fans at?
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Ganondorf is the worst
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I think Donkey Kong has had some fairly good performances post-fourways. Doing almost the exact same on Vivi in 2010 as in 2004 is probably sneakily good in light of Zidane's trajectory over the same period and the likelihood that FFIX-related entrants had already started boosting by then. DK got hammered by SFF in 2013, yeah, but that's just the nature of SFF (and being the odd-man out in a threeway match with a competitive top two), and the round before he had totally embarrassed Lightning despite Falco being there whose presence was supposed to cost Donkey Kong the match. DKC2 looked fairly good in 2015, too.

The old-school, low-votal state of current gamefaqs is probably a good environment for Donkey Kong to do well. He'll never be a near-elite but given the way he totally demolished Falco I think he'd comfortably beat Captain Falcon or any other Nintendo character below Fox. Though I'd also take Donkey Kong over the Tidus/Yuna/Rikku trio or probably any established non-Square/Nintendo entrant historically weaker than Sub-Zero (excepting maybe Kratos cuz new game) so I might be an outlier.
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LeonhartFour posted...

I'm just angry Vivi did it first because it meant Squall couldn't.

And it just led to another Pokemon victory
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I think DKC2 winning two matches was more due to the "favorites" choking than any display of strength.
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apparently i was 24th place in CBVIII, so that makes me qualified enough to keep doing this

Alucard
Lastest Contest Appearance: CBIX (2013)
Latest Major Game Appearance: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (2010)

Konami has basically killed Castlevania but I think an iOS game is coming out so there's some pity points for poor ol' Al there. At least he appears for half an episode in that dope animated Netflix series, so there's that maybe, but he looks completely different and I don't think it brought a lot of new fans to the fanbase.

Alucard has appeared in every major contest and has some great matches on his resume, I'd say he might be Team Captain of the midcarders. Always a solid performance and he'll sometimes impress by putting up good percentages on characters that should in theory kick his ass. SotN is so well respected on GameFAQs and by the gaming community as a whole that Alucard's current lack of relevance shouldn't hurt him that bad.

Tails
Latest Contest Appearance: CBIX (2013)
Latest Major Game Appearance: Sonic Forces (2017)

Tails barely beat Viewtiful Joe in 2004, and there's not much that has happened in his favor since then. He's a ton of fun in the Sonic Boom cartoon, but CN doesn't air that at all. He saw a return to form in Lost World and Mania immediately followed by being a big blubbering baby in Sonic Forces that literally could not function without Sonic by his side. Sonic fans were super pissed that SEGA pissed away all his character development since 2002.

Tails has never and will not ever be a force in these contests. He's just not on GameFAQs' radar and even though Sonic and Knuckles see occasional spikes in popularity, Tails is just see as the 2nd player character. He's probably about the same as he was in 2013, I'm pretty sure he can still beat Bomberman

Duke Nukem
Latest Contest Appearance: CBIX (2013)
Latest Major Game Appearance: Duke Nukem 3D Remastered (2017), Bulletstorm Remastered (2017)

Can you believe Duke Nukem was a 3 seed in 2002?

Well, Duke Nukem has a confirmed movie starring John Cena in the works, although something tells me it'll fall into development hell ala Duke Nukem Forever. I just don't see the demand, although maybe Hollywood will see Rampage doing well and push it out.

In 2007 and 2008 Duke pulled off some miracle victories and beat Gordon (only to lose to him in the next round) and Altair. He's a character that thrives on the 4-way format as he has his own dedicated fanbase and picks up lol meme votes while other characters SFF each other into oblivion.

But since then he's just done OK, he's a solid midcarder and fun to watch in multis but in 1-v-1 I can't imagine he could do much damage anymore. He already dropped a ton because DNF actually came out and it sucked ass so the memes are dead.

Gearbox also rushed out the DN3D remastered as well as swapping Duke's model into Bulletstorm and getting John St John to do some quick dub work for it, although they didn't change any of the other characters' lines so it makes no sense at all. Gearbox really doesn't know how to treat the King and it will probably show in contests. At least he's getting SOME kind of release, tho

Iori
Latest Contest Appearance: CBI (2002)
Latest Major Game Appearance: KOF XIV (2016)

Iori is more of a main character than Terry but he's not any stronger. I don't think anyone is going out of their way to support him. I don't know if he's stronger than 2002. Probably? Fighting games are having a third resurgence right now, right?

Again, it comes back to this site in particular not caring for fighting games. I think if you haven't been in MK, SF or MvC you'll just get forgotten. At least Terry was a meme here for a bit. Iori would probably do even worse today than in 2002.
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Pikachu
Latest Contest Appearance: CBIX (2013)
Latest Game Appearance: Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon (2017)

remember when Pikachu was a 7 seed and he got quadrupled by Cloud?

that was before Pokefear

things we so simple

so peaceful

before Pokefear gripped the nation

for real though, I have NO idea what Pikachu's ceiling is. Everyone went from being too cool to like him to absolutely adoring the little rat. Nintendo and Game Freak love reminding you he's still the mascot. There was recently that movie where he spoke for a bit! Like, actually spoke! That video was everywhere for a week. Pikachu is an icon on the level of Mickey Mouse and people eat it up.

His last appearance he got beaten by Mewtwo in a 3-way with Mega Man and he barely beat Squirtle the match before, so that "Pac-Man Fever" thing I mentioned a few posts back might apply to Pikachu. People love Pikachu, but that's because they love what he represents. Once better Pokemon make an appearance, he falls apart. However, he was still able to handily beat Crono, who may have had a huge drop off in the years, but it's still nuts to think how far Pikachu has come, and how far he'll go.

I'd say he is stronger than CBIX, and once Pokemon Switch is released, he'll be a force to be reckoned with. Same with all the Pokemon. Pokefear will return and it will take no prisoners.

PaRappa
Last Contest: CBVI (2007)
Last Game: PaRappa the Rapper Remastered (2017)

Rodney Greenblat, the man responsible for PaRappa's art style, was asked about PaRappa being a playable fighter in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Greenblat was happy to see Parappa return to video games, but he was not happy to see him in a violent game. "Im very happy that Parappa is making a bit of a comeback, but not so happy about him being in a weapon filled battle game. Actually the Battle Royale game is fun, and I have to do what I can to get Parappa back in the game scene. My hope is that Sony realizes the golden true potential of Parappa and asks me to design some new games. Ive learned a lot, and I think Parappa could be great again," said Greenblat.

I think the above paragraph says it all

Poor PaRappa, he couldn't beat Tommy Vercetti in 4-ways, he'd be dead nowadays. Although at one point my 13-year old cousin asked me about him before the remaster last year, but he's a huge nerdo like us so I think that's more of an anomaly

going to write a lot about cloud and fox next post
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Cloud
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (as "Lightning")(2013), Smash 4 (2014), Dissidia Final Fantasy NT (2018)

How do you measure Cloud's relevance? He's Cloud, Link's number 2. Everyone talks about how Snake would probably be able to beat him, but with the way Konami has treated MGS, how true is that? Remember when the internet's collective house got brought down when the FFVII remake and Cloud in Smash 4 got announced?

He's somehow as relevant as ever, and although he may seem significantly less invincible than before, he's still Cloud. I'd be reluctant to take Snake over him, or even Mario to some extent. I think we downplay Cloud's raw strength.

Once FFVII's remake comes out (or at least part 1 of that remake), where does Cloud go? How much power does he gain? We can assume Sony and Square will push the shit out of it, and assuming it's priced decently (i.e. it's not $60 just for the reactor part of the game), it should sell like crazy and a whole new generation will fall in love with the game along with his old fans falling back in love.

Would that boost be enough to beat Link again? Nnnnnnno. Probably not. Maybe if the remake came out the day the match happened and Link hadn't had a game in a while.

What I'm trying to say is: Don't count Cloud out. He's still got plenty left in him and plenty more to serve up in the coming years. It's all a matter of timing.

Fox
Last Contest: 2013
Last Games: Star Fox Zero (2016), Star Fox 2 (2017)

People were pretty excited about SF2 getting released with the SNES Mini, right? My roommate got one for his birthday last weekend, and even though SF64 was one of his favorite games ever, he had already forgotten it was included. In fact, nobody seemed to talk about it much after the initial news buzz died down.

Star Fox Zero was supposedly pretty mediocre, and it doesn't help that it was a Wii U game with no signs of getting a Switch port.

In 2013, Fox got dangerously close to Pokemon Trainer Blue, and he had Wolf holding him back from maybe taking the win. Does this mean Fox is strong or that Blue is weak?

Probably more of the ladder. Blue did OK, it's safe to assume he and Fox are about the same level of midcarder. But has Fox maintained that strength? Well in 2013 his most recent release was the SF64 3DS remake, which got some good success, and Smash 4 was on the horizon, but that was about it. I don't know if Zero hurt his reputation, but the release went so under the radar on a system nobody owned that it probably didn't do much. I suspect Fox is about the same level of strength as he was in 2013, maybe a tad stronger from the general surge in popularity Nintendo has had over the years. He probably won't be pulling off any crazy upsets, though.

...

That's it for the first division! Can't believe I have this much to write about. Let's see how long I keep it up before I run out of time or get called out for having no idea what I'm talking about.
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the fact that we haven't had a real contest since Cloud was in Smash 4 makes me very sad
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Yeah. Smash was Cloud's big chance to make a comeback but he never got a chance to show it off.
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i feel like all the guests will probs be back in Smash 5, from what little info we have we can assume it's to some extent an expanded-on port of Smash Wii U, and I'm under the further assumption that Sakurai got contracts that covered the Switch port he knew he was going to do at the time.

If Smash 5 sells like nuts you can assume Cloud will look better than ever in time for the next contest maybe (probably not)
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ZenOfThunder posted...

If Smash 5 sells like nuts you can assume Cloud will look better than ever in time for the next contest maybe (probably not)

It did wonders for Snake, so I assume it will for Cloud, too.
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sorry that was poor phrasing on my part, i meant smash 5 won't be out in time for the contest
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Oh yeah, probably not.
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Lara Croft
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara Croft Go (2015)

Lara Croft just had a movie! I wonder how--

As of April 19, 2018, Tomb Raider has grossed $56.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $212.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $269 million. In order to break even, the film needs to gross at least $275 million worldwide.

Ouch, I mean, that's not awful though, right? How did it do compared to the others, adjusted for inflation?

[Lara Croft: Tomb Raider] debuted at number one [domestically] with $48.2 million, giving Paramount its second-best debut and the fifth-highest debut of 2001.

[Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life] debuted in fourth place with a take of $21.8 million. The film finished with a domestic gross of $65 million.

Tomb Raider: $184,935,121
Tomb Raider 2: $89,053,068
Tomb Raider Reboot: $56,700,036

oh

are you telling me Lara Croft isn't as relevant as she was when she was a 1 seed in 2002?

well you don't need box office results to tell me that I guess

but the games sell well, right? those new games where Lara is more vulnerable and gets impaled in the face-area. the new games where she kills like 150 dudes in a row with a bow and arrow but when she first kills a deer it brings a tear to her eye.

the new games where she doesn't even raid tombs

yeah those new games

how relevant is Lara Croft now? Microsoft really pushes her games. She's always a timed exclusive or whatever, but on a site that is primarily PS4/Switch, that probably doesn't help. Her games are also really cheap and free on PS+/XBL.

but she's Lara Croft. Who cares? She barely beat Wesker in 2007, then she had her big reboot game, and she was able to barely beat Altair. The same Altair that got beaten by Duke Nukem a few years prior.

Now she has TWO big reboot games, some iOS apps that are good apparently and a movie nobody saw. She's probably stronger because at least she's relevant, I just don't think her fanbase is on GameFAQs.

Chop Chop Master Onion
Last Contest: 2002
Last Game: PaRappa the Rapper Remastered (2017)

how did Chop Chop Master Onion get into a contest exactly?

could Chop Chop Master Onion beat Bub in a modern match?

could Chop Chop Master Onion beat any Robot Master ever?

could Chop Chop Master Onion beat anyone from freaking Xenoblade?

these are the hard-hitting questions

Ryo Hazuki
Last Contest: 2004
Last Game: Project X Zone 2 (2015), Sonic & SEGA All-Star Racing Transformed (2012)

wow, look at those last two appearances. That's sad. The guy drives a forklift exclusively in the PC and Android versions of freaking Sonic & SEGA Racing 2.

You should have seen me at E3 when Shenmue III was released. I have a big party every year and have people over (like 20 peeps) and we watch E3. Most people don't play games anymore. There's just me and maybe 4 guys that actually follow games.

When they announced Shenmue III I lost it. Me and one other dude. We went insane. I don't even like Shenmue that much. It was just like... It's like Duke Nukem Forever. It was a thing. A thing you kind of knew might happen, but didn't think for serious would happen.

But it says a lot that the other 18 dudes in the room were like "what" and "who cares." Ryo Hazuki didn't do well in any of his appearances. He couldn't even triple Guybrush.

He's got a third game a recently-announced remaster of I & II on the way. That's cool. Maybe if the timing is right he can get a low seed and make an appearance for fun and get blown up just like old times.
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the funny thing about that new Tomb Raider movie is that it's one of the best reviewed video game movies ever

(which is to say it's right at 50% on Rotten Tomatoes)
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ZenOfThunder posted...

to bring this back to contests: are there ANY non-story based, primarily multiplayer games that have characters that do well/would not be fodder in a contest setting? like better than... Soap and Captain Price?

I think it will be very difficult for any characters from multiplayer-dominant games to end up above the fodder line in strength because multiplayer gaming has seen an extremely huge decline on this site. The history of this poll shows what has happened to multiplayer gaming:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/6786-

That's the most recent version of this poll and about half of the site doesn't play games with other people. Back in 2012, it was around 34%. Even the 2008 poll was a significant change from the 2012 poll. Perhaps Call of Duty imploding on this site wasn't due to Call of Duty itself, but rather the site losing interest in multiplayer gaming. Call of Duty was at its peak in 2009/2010, in between the time of the 2008 and 2012 polls.
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Guybrush
Last Contest: 2008
Last Game: Tales of Monkey Island (2009), Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (2010)

Guybrush got punked hard by Ryo but he somehow got three contest appearances?? What? I guess it shows how dedicated LucasArts fans are on this site. CJayC has a soft spot for them, right? Maybe he's the reason to some extent.

Guybrush is less relevant the ever. LucasArts is super dead now. Who even owns the rights now? Disney? Did EA get it with Star Wars? Does Telltale still have the rights? Who cares?

Crono
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Chrono Trigger PC (2018)

talking about Crono's contest history is opening a whole can of worms, do i dare tackle it? I was only 24th place in one contest, somebody ask Ulti to write this one

so yeah the one thing that keeps a fanbase passionate and interested and together is relevant releases and new content. when's the last time Crono got that? The DS remake? People were shitting on the PC version recently for being a bad iOS port. Did anyone buy it? I don't think Square even advertised they were releasing it more than a few days out. Shows how little they care.

Crono is probably even weaker than he was in 2013. The Noble Nine is broken and the band isn't getting back together as long as Crono doesn't get some new games.

Or put Crono in Smash 5. You reading this, Sakurai? GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT. ALL... 5 PEOPLE.

Simon Belmont
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate (2013)

Other than Alucard, are there any other Castlevania characters that would do well in a contest setting? Dracula did OK against... Barret and Lucina. So maybe not.

Simon did alright against Ezio once and he beat Hades, but one time he lost to Sam's Fisher pretty bad so I have no idea where his strength is. He's just "the Castlevania I guy" I think. He's cool and I love Simon but I think he's more of an "icon" than a "character" and only gets votes based on general recognizability.

Also if he gets his Judgment picture he's screwed

Castlevania is pretty much dead and unlike Alucard Simon is not as immune from age. I don't think we'll ever see Simon again.
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LeonhartFour posted...

the funny thing about that new Tomb Raider movie is that it's one of the best reviewed video game movies ever

(which is to say it's right at 50% on Rotten Tomatoes)

I think it was the highest until it got beat by Rampage. Rampage is at 50% but Tomb Raider fell to 49%. For some reason we are in a video game movie renaissance right now with movies doing better than ever.
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Chrono Trigger seemed stronger than ever in 2015, but who knows what that might mean for Crono.
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cant wait for that live action sonic movie



*crosses fingers*
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ZenOfThunder posted...

could Chop Chop Master Onion beat anyone from freaking Xenoblade?

Are you saying Shulk is fodder? Sure, most people didn't know about him before Smash, but I'd say Shulk would be a little below... Pit, maybe?
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he's probably asking something along the lines of Reyn or Dunban rather than Shulk

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/5163-character-battle-ix-division-3-round-1-spyro-vs-clementine
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/5156-character-battle-ix-division-2-round-1-kos-mos-vs-dunban-vs
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also fun fact

I went on Ngamer's contest podcast and picked Reyn as an upset special in 2013

I've made some bad picks in the past but that one might be up there when you take the actual result into consideration
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Guybrush has had a more recent appearance than that!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/5208-character-battle-ix-division-8-round-1-ganondorf-vs-guybrush

He even got not last, even after having votes removed for stuffing!
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AxemRedRanger posted...

Guybrush has had a more recent appearance than that!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/5208-character-battle-ix-division-8-round-1-ganondorf-vs-guybrush

He even got not last, even after having votes removed for stuffing!

Man, I remember feeling like an absolute genius for taking that Guybrush > Max Payne upset in the expert challenge, simply because the same 18% of this site that nominates him for every contest was never going to budge on him, and it would be enough to put away bald Max Payne.
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I don't think Mario was weaker in 2013 than expected though, I just think Vivi was stronger than expected.

Crono could make for some great discussion given the right matchups after how extremely good Chrono Trigger looked last time, we'll see how it translates.
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In fairness, that "extremely good" involved demolishing two weak games and then blowing out an ailing FFX that had shown nothing but weakness up to that point.

Then again Melee wasn't too impressive against KH2 and its doubling of Portal can be attributed to a Valve decline. The rest of its matches all involved rallies, which I suppose will be the norm going forward. While a contest with rallies can be exciting in its own way, it does pain me a little to think we'll likely never get a "traditional" contest again.

My logic for picking CT over Melee and FFX in that contest was that CT's contest history just looked better than Melee's or FFX's. And I think by this point a lot of the board will agree that CT would have beaten Melee without rallies "tampering" with the result.

To be fair, from that perspective we had seen Melee and FFX in one additional contest compared to Chrono Trigger. Since Ulti's analyses posit that neither game was particularly impressive in the contest for the most part (while still obviously being among the cream of the crop in the GOTD field), it's probably fair to assume that's not a particularly unpopular opinion. I think Ulti pointed to Melee bleeding so much % against Call of Duty as the point where it showed a weakness that Brawl never really did.
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ZenOfThunder posted...

could Chop Chop Master Onion beat any Robot Master ever?

Not neva.

(nominate Metal Man in 20XX)
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LinkMarioSamus posted...

And I think by this point a lot of the board will agree that CT would have beaten Melee without rallies "tampering" with the result.

I mean it was up 60/40 before the rally started so yeah it wouldn't have even been close
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actually the saddest thing about that rally is that it cost me my chance to be completely right about Melee and FFX still being very close in strength since CT was 60% and climbing during the Power Hour so it was probably headed to a 62-63%+ victory
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Fuck

Rallies
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CT would have won that contest

imo
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The Mana Sword posted...

CT would have won that contest

imo

I haven't even played Chrono Trigger (yet) and I agree.
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The Mana Sword posted...

CT would have won that contest

imo

it had a real chance and it's a shame we'll never know for sure
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hello it's me, zen, i'm back, and i'm wearing my old GameFAQs t-shirt and watching a Strong Bad Email playlist. Talking about the 2002 character battle. at a ripe 26 (almost 27) years old in the year of our lord 2018. i wouldnt have it any other way

Dante
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite (2017), Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (2015), DmC: Devil May Cry (2013)

There's constant rumors of Devil May Cry 5, I believe some large DMC fan community came together recently saying that they KNOW DMC5 is coming and the announcement has been pushed back multiple times and they are super pissed. Also apparently it'll be at E3 this year?

If that announcement is right, it might help make Dante a little more relevant again. he has his MvC appearances, but Infinite currently has a record negative three people playing it right now, and the DMC4 SE was good but too long ago to keep Dante hot.

But he's gotta be better than he was in 2013. That contest was fresh after the release of DmC, which might have been the most hated game on the site at that very moment. I don't blame him for getting punked by a cartoon turtle.

Could Dante beat Squirtle without the DmC anti-vote? Maybe not right now. Pokemon is on the rise and Dante is stale, but he'd probably put up significantly better numbers, and he would definitely be closer to Squirtle than he was to Zidane this time around. Let's see if the rumors are true and we get a DmC5 announcement around the time of the contest to start getting Dante back to form.

Q*Bert
Last Contest: 2002
Last Game: Q*Bert (PS4 Port)(2015)

Q*Bert somehow was in two major motion pictures within the span of three years. You got Wreck-It Ralph where he was some kind of comic relief supporting character and you got Adam Sandler's Pixels where he is some kind of comic relief supporting character where in the end he turns into a beautiful woman and Josh Gad has sex with him.

I really wish I was making that last part up.

Regardless, Q*Bert is somehow more relevant than ever, but that doesn't translate into renewed contest strength. Q*Bert is like a turbo-Pac-Man, and he more has a case of "Pac-Man Chlamydia" than "Pac-Man Fever." He probably got it from Josh Gad.

Who is going to vote for Q*Bert over ANYONE else? He might be able to beat... Chop Chop Master Onion. If the Bert were to get back into a contest somehow he'd have to get super lucky and match up with some kind of generic fighting game character like Rock form Soulcalibur or something.

Kasumi
Last Contest: 2006
Last Game: Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation (2017)

what the hell is "Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation (2017)" ??? I Googled it and didn't get much info. It doesn't even have a page on the DOA Wiki. It looks like a regular DOA volleyball game but maybe it's an app or something? You know what, I don't care

Nobody else cares either, her B8 Wiki page talks more about Tina Armstrong's upset of Gordon that Kasumi herself. I think Ayane would be a little stronger than Kasumi, she's in the Ninja Gaiden games and seems to be more of a... "character"

Kasumi probably has a pretty fixed level of strength, you can figure out just by looking at her which game she's from, and that game has its fans, and those fans are unquestionably loyal to the jubblies.

i forgot she was in 2006, that female half of the bracket was such a waste. With Chun-Li in the contests, why would you ever need someone from DOA?
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Aeris
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (2014)

all i think about when it comes to Aeris is *spoilers*.com, what a golden age for this board. also how every single time she has a match people slither out from their sticky nerd holes with fire in their eyes and blood running from the corner of their mouths, demanding that the baka gaijin responsible for these internet popularity polls show himself and explain why he used the inferior and incorrect "aeris" over "aerith"

Aeristh is some kind of low-key OG meme, it even showed up in the background of Wreck-It Ralph really quick. She's not Tifa or Vincent strong but she isn't Barret weak. She's probably the weakest of the FFVII midcarders before they dip down into low-midcarder territory.

With the FFVII remake on the horizon she'll probably end up getting a boost but I doubt she'll have dropped significantly.

Gordon Freeman
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Hunt Down the Freeman (2018)

Gordon Freeman is dead like GFNW. Is Gordon the new Duke Nukem? I can already imagine that whenever there's a "3" in his votals that the memes will run freely across the board.

Luckily Gordon's new level of meme-itude keeps him relevant when Gaben won't. He probably ain't gaining but he'll be sticking around for a while.

Tina Armstrong
Last Contest: 2002
Last Game: whatever that shit I posted on Kasumi's is

See: Kasumi

but worse

are there any FPS protags she could beat?

Knuckles
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Sonic Forces (2017), Sonic Mania (2017)

the echidna, the myth, the legend.

Knuckles is the safest character in the Sonic franchise. Even people who dump on Sonic love Knuckles. That universal love and respect lead him to upsetting Magus in what is indisputably the luckiest pick I ever made in one of these contests.

Knuckles has that dumb "do you know de wey" meme and if anyone somehow forgot Knuckles was a thing they sure as hell remember now. Does that help him or hurt him? As annoying as those memes were, I am sticking to my guns here: People just love Knuckles.

If anything I believe he would have gotten stronger in the past 5 years. Not much, but a little. The general meme-i-ness of the current internet is good for Sonic characters in general. Except Tails.
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Knuckles finally being playable in a good Sonic game again last year may have helped him. I'm kinda curious if Sonic Mania had any impact at all, really.
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Sonic Mania + Sonic Mania Adventures plus the great new IDW comic should help Sonic and friends but at the same time Sonic Forces was aaaaaaass

SEGA recently confirmed that the Classic and Modern Sonic games are different universes and different characters, retconning Generations. Technically we could nom Classic Sonic into a contest now I guess but Bacon probably wouldn't like it.
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how I thought of it last night is that if Sonic guys get classic pictures, they're probably going to be the strongest they've been in ages. people felt good about Mania. really good.

but due to Forces and the big boost in popularity classic Sonic has gotten modern Sonic is now something almost no one will admit to liking so that one is the same or even weaker
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i think sonic's current strength is going to be super debated because of Mania and Forces both being released so closely, there's no telling how the dust will settle on that one

you're right tho, if sonic gets a classic pic he'll do WAY better. we are currently in this age of nostalgia where 90s characters are getting remakes and reboots and remasters and people are just guzzling it all down
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Well, you count rallies as part of a game's strength. I don't think many people would dispute that rallied SSBM is stronger than FF10.
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UltimaterializerX posted...

Melee is stronger naturally and no one is convincing me otherwise.

yeah I don't actually care to convince you of anything

just remember that unless you're willing to argue KHII > FFX, Melee can't win by that much

well at least until the fans get scared and rally LOLOLOLOLO
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FFIX > KHI still the worst result
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