Board 8 > How would they do in a contest? Day 12 ft Goomba, Diablo, CATS

(+) Yeah! (+)

This is a topic to rate the contest strength of potential newcomers in the current contest environment.

I will pick the characters to rate and discuss for each day from user nominations - whoever the 3 most nominated characters are at that time. If there are more than 3 I will pick randomly. You can nominate any number of characters at any time, but you cannot nominate the same character twice.

All characters who were present in the 2018 Character Battle will NOT be eligible. Otherwise you can nominate any character that has appeared in video games; even comic book characters. This will exclude real-life athletes who have only appeared in long running sports series, however I will accept those who have their own games such as Shaq. I will accept nominations for iconic gaming duos too, if both members of said duo are named in the title of a game (Banjo-Kazooie, Sam & Max Hit the Road, etc).

Each day will have a separate topic, and nominations will carry over. As far as actually rating the character's contest strength; I ask that users rank a characters potential strength with one of the following qualifiers - Low Fodder, Mid Fodder, High Fodder, Fodder Line, Low Midcarder, Midcarder, High Midcarder, Near Elite, Elite, LAW Tier (capable of beating Link). I will average all the ratings given to a character to come up with their final ranking. I have included a highlighted entrant from Character Battle X on each tier of the strength rankings below, to provide a baseline for each.

Current Character Strength Rankings: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P1AIhHywBiLd6VAMZMNEGX-HW2td8u1D0Iw_tzHsORw/edit?usp=sharing

Nomination List: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-KnSBDzppzPK5Ug1zmx8_x0bG4tqFDMPPH2k8J3s8sk/edit?usp=sharing

Results from Day 11:

Galeem (Super Smash Bros Ultimate) is Mid Fodder
Kyle Hyde (Hotel Dusk: Room 215) is Low Fodder
Diddy Kong (DK series) is Fodder Line

Here is today's trio to rank:

Goomba (Mario series)
Diablo (Diablo series)
CATS (Zero Wing)
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Goomba would be Fodder Line, I think that with the recent format changes that nobody would try to stuff for Goomba as a joke. As soon as he faces somebody that people care about he crumbles. I imagine he could make a deep run into the bracket if he got lucky, but I'd have trouble taking Goomba over, say... KOS-MOS. Yeah, it would be close, but I really don't think enough people give a shit about Goomba to make him more than Fodder Line.

Diablo was in like the top 4 of Got Villains, right? It's nuts how far being the title character of your own beloved game series with a badass design and good bracket placement would get you. I'm thinking now that recognition would carry him to low fodder status.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/5748-best-of-2014-pc

hey people gave a shit for a bit about Diablo III at some point

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7463-best-of-2018-switch

but not anymore. this just isn't that kind of site anymore.

CATS is mid fodder. I wanna put him at low fodder but my heart won't let me. cats beat nathan drake once, right? :(
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Goomba: High Fodder - King Dedede is a proper character who at least some people care about, and he fell short of Revolver Ocelot. Goomba vs. Claire Redfield being an even match sounds roughly right to me. Even then, though, I might be overestimating the strength of something people don't care about that happens to say Mario (remember Mario Maker in 2015?).

Diablo: Mid Fodder - Apparently Diablo III is now a great game, but all GameFAQs users remember/care about is its horribly botched launch, not to mention that infamous mobile game announcement. What a fall. (Also, I thought I would be the lowest vote on him.)

CATS: Low Fodder - People don't even care to nominate (or frankly even remember) him anymore, and in the era of the death of joke characters, that says a lot.

Nominations:
Beat (Dragon Ball Heroes)
Bill Rizer (Contra)
Black Mage (Final Fantasy)
Butters Stotch (South Park)
Dr. Neo Cortex (Crash Bandicoot)
Heihachi Mishima (Tekken)
King Boo (Mario)
Ms. Pac-Man (Pac-Man)
Toad (Mario)
Trevor Belmont (Castlevania)
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Goomba - Low Midcarder. I really, really wish Goomba made the field back when joke characters were at their peak. I've always wondered how it would do. Nowadays, Goomba would have more of an uphill battle, but I think it still has enough novelty value and recognizability to waddle past the fodder line.

Diablo - High Fodder. His best days are far gone, but I still think he has enough apathy/recognition vote potential to beat much of the fodder crowd.

CATS - Low Fodder. Memes were so simple and earnest back then... I miss the 2000s Internet. And CATS. But let's face it, he'd get curbstomped by anyone except Neptune or something.
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Goomba is Fodder Line to me. He's an iconic enemy that everyone knows but few care about. He won't be able to beat anyone with legit strength.

Diablo is High Fodder - he obviously has seen better days but I would take him over anyone currently on the Mid Fodder line.

CATS is Low Fodder. But an Elite in our hearts. . .

nominations:
ExDeath (FFV)
Black Mage (Final Fantasy)
Rash (Battletoads)
Inkling (Splatoon)
Dr. Neo Cortex (Crash Bandicoot)
Goro (Mortal Kombat)
Marcus Fenix (Gears of War)
Dio Brando (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)
Lenneth Valkyrie (Valkyrie Profile)
Hero (Dragon Quest V)
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Goomba - low midcarder. Probably wouldn't do much worse than Toad.
Diablo - low midcarder. Probably a little weaker than before, but still decent.
CATS - mid-fodder. Joke characters have taken a tumble as of late, but CATS is, like, THE original joke character, so it probably hasn't lost much over time on GFAQs.
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Day 13 is up: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77767705
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