Board 8 > Should Link be retired from GameFAQs Contests?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Simple question.
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No.
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As long as potential off-site rallies big enough to stop him can exist, objectivley not

Personally yes though
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The bonus match makes sense

Winner faces Link in a bonus Match.

Thats the obvious choice.
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Well this contest it's a free 140 points to nearly every serious bracket maker but i mean we got lucky in regards to no rallies
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no we should not retire a popular character from a popularity contest for being too popular
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What is the point? Then the next most popular character will likely just win. Then will you want to increase the retirement list by one?

No. I like seeing Link win, as do, presumably, the rest of his voters.
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I'd be fine with taking him out and just pitting him against the champion. It's not really that different than what Allen did this year with the legends bracket. Same concept anyway. Stops him from murdering a bunch characters and preventing us from seeing more interesting matches.

Hell I'd probably preferred if he'd done that this year and then put Sephiroth in Link's original spot. Instead of Link murdering Ganon, maybe it'd have been an interesting Seph vs Ganon match, and then instead of Link murdering Pikachu, maybe it'd have been an interesting Seph/Ganon vs Pikachu match, etc... Granted we'd have lost that funny Tifa > Seph outcome, but Pikachu > Seph would be pretty funny in its own right if it happened.
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CooperRC posted...

What is the point? Then the next most popular character will likely just win. Then will you want to increase the retirement list by one?

But who is the second strongest character ?
Is it Mario ? Cloud ? Maybe Snake (before the contest). Possibily Samus ? Zelda ?
This is far less obvious and I think most would agree the second tends to change from contest to contest.

No. The way this one did it, with normal rounds, then unleashing the Noble Nine at the end is probably the best. Retiring consistent winners is a dumb idea.
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Id like all of LoZ retired from character and games contests.

lolno

id rather see new sites crop up their own character battles. Heck, we may be missing out on Doomguy putting 80% on Link
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If they want to change things up next time, they should have the poll in the opposite direction with people voting for the worse character.

Nah. I like the whole legends bracket thing though. Give Link a bye until later on so we can get more potentially debatable matches earlier, but keep him around in the end. It would feel wrong to say a character won a GameFAQs character battle if they didn't have to go through Link in some way, whether by beating him directly or beating someone who did or whatever.
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No if this site wants to vote Link every time I say let them. Wins over kiddie pool level competition aren't worth it. Just do a legend bracket type thing like this one. Maybe just put Mario/Samus/Link/Cloud in it and let the others live in the normal bracket.
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Airship_Canon posted...

No. The way this one did it, with normal rounds, then unleashing the Noble Nine at the end is probably the best.

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Ill say this - we could have had a bitter disagreement about Cloud, Snake, Mario and even Samus if Link wasnt there to shut it all down. he should probably be in though, in some capacity.
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Eh not sure. I want to say yes but then again the times where a huge rally forms to potentially dethrone him are pretty hype. Besides even if he was gone its just going to go to the predictable second person from the upper tiers of the N9

I'd be up for a contest that allowed all media. That could be interesting even if Link would probably still win (he beat Santa on Christmas ffs). Alternatively, a contest that only allowed characters that premiered after a certain date though I feel people wouldn't be interested in this.
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Ytterbicide posted...

lolno

id rather see new sites crop up their own character battles. Heck, we may be missing out on Doomguy putting 80% on Link

I also would like to see it but it's just hard to find a General Gaming Hub big enough that has a front page where a character battle would actually make sense.
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Averia posted...

CooperRC posted...

What is the point? Then the next most popular character will likely just win. Then will you want to increase the retirement list by one?

But who is the second strongest character ?
Is it Mario ? Cloud ? Maybe Snake (before the contest). Possibily Samus ? Zelda ?
This is far less obvious and I think most would agree the second tends to change from contest to contest.

#2 has been less obvious than #1, but it hasn't really changed contest to contest. It just feels that way because we have only had 3 contests in the last 8 years.

Cloud was #2 (outside of rallies and multiway SFF polls) for basically 6 contests in a row from 04-10. Then Snake was #2 in 2013 and Mario appears to be in 2018. If we had a bunch more contests this decade like we did last decade, we would likely have seen extended reigns by Snake (and now Mario) at #2 like Cloud had.
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CooperRC posted...

What is the point? Then the next most popular character will likely just win. Then will you want to increase the retirement list by one?

We've been through this rigmarole before. Back when Link/Cloud/Sephiroth were too strong for anyone else to beat we took them out. Then Mario stomped all over everyone so we took him out. Then Snake and Samus owned everyone at which point we stopped caring and put everyone back in.

But that was back when this was held every year. Being held every 3-5 years at this point there is honestly no need.
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CooperRC posted...

What is the point? Then the next most popular character will likely just win. Then will you want to increase the retirement list by one?

Who is the next most popular character?

Absolutely not. Most of the reasons have already been said.

-Link's fans like seeing him win. There are a lot of them. Removing him makes them less happy. (I say this as someone who votes against Link more often than for him.)
-Excluding Link from the contest just seems silly to me. They don't hold a World Series for the second and third best teams in baseball. A competition should feature the best.
-It's entirely possible that at some point in the future, Link will no longer be the strongest. I mean, it even happened in 2003. If you retire him you won't get to see when that happens.

I do really like what this contest has done, with the losers bracket and the legends bracket. Increasing the number of competitive, interesting matches is good. But you can do that without cheapening the whole thing by making it a battle for second.
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Honestly, the bigger question should be why we even hold these contests when we all know its just gonna be OLD GAME GOOD NEW GAME BAD, since the only people left on this site are 40 year olds who never played a video game after 2006.
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I think that the champion of the previous contest should have to sit out the next contest. Simple rule that would let Link come and go.

He should be the Supreme Bonus Boss Battle at the end of the 2021 All Fictional Contest. Or we could do another Legends thing with the Top Four held back from the main bracket, if the final results this year show us that 4 characters are now well ahead of the rest of the pack (like say Link/Mario/Samus/Cloud).


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on the condition that Mario is also retired because he's probably unbeatable at this point as well
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Ranticoot posted...

on the condition that Mario is also retired because he's probably unbeatable at this point as well

don't you dare rob me of the dream Samus > Mario match i've been waiting decades for

if the REMATCH doesn't do it, Metroid Prime 4 gonna finish the job

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or hey quick nintendo push out a MP4 trailer at The Game Awards tomorrow
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Logience posted...

Honestly, the bigger question should be why we even hold these contests when we all know its just gonna be OLD GAME GOOD NEW GAME BAD, since the only people left on this site are 40 year olds who never played a video game after 2006.

Now this is not true. We played BotW and Zelda is now beasting because of it. >_>
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trogita posted...

I think that the champion of the previous contest should have to sit out the next contest. Simple rule that would let Link come and go.

I like this.
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Back to this old refrain huh.

I used to think so, but not anymore.
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Yes, permanently. And stop making so many god damn Nintendo polls outside of contest season.
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He should be the secret final boss.

The champion has to win at least 60/40 in 3 or more rounds without ever losing the lead in a single match. Only then will Shin Link deem them worthy to face him.
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haloiscoolisbak posted...

Well this contest it's a free 140 points to nearly every serious bracket maker but i mean we got lucky in regards to no rallies

Allen specifically wrote the rules to make it hard to launch successful rallies. All because butthurt NintenDrones every time a Nintendo character or game doesnt win.
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Ytterbicide posted...

lolno

id rather see new sites crop up their own character battles. Heck, we may be missing out on Doomguy putting 80% on Link

you say that as if butthurt drones wouldnt invade that site to prevent that outcome from happening.
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Relevant time to bump this topic.
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Make him be the bonus boss.
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Hmm.
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I'm pretty strongly in favour of Hall of Fame-ing Link. The bonus match is a good idea.
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get link out. The guy is OP. HE NEEDS A NERF SO BAD.

A picture of his butt only would 60-40 Sonic.
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No. I mean, what's the point? An order would still be established without Link. Mario would then smash everyone. Not by the same margins, but the winner would still not be in doubt.
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Vlado posted...

No. I mean, what's the point? An order would still be established without Link. Mario would then smash everyone. Not by the same margins, but the winner would still not be in doubt.

Mario could have debatable matches though.
He didn't beat Samus by that much

That's one match, and one in which I'd still pick Mario without hesitation.
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