Lurker > charmander6000

1987

Notable Games: The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, Contra

We finally reached a year with both a decent anchor game and some depth. Among the NES years this will likely be the second strongest, behind 1990 though that isn’t saying much outside of believing 1987 can defeat Super Mario Bros.’s 1985.

One thought that I have is SFF. While the more recent games will likely be sparred due to their diversity the Nintendo heavy 80s and early 90s will make them susceptible. Should 1987 go up against any Zelda containing year we could see a massive blowout. Perhaps there would be an exception against 1993’s Link’s Awakening, possibly the only year in the 90s that 1987 would have a chance against.

Outside of the 90s 1987 would probably have a chance against some of the years over the past decade, but while it has decent depth relative to other years in the 80s it is far weaker than what we have in the decades to follow.
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1986

Notable Games: Tetris

You could take everything I said about 1985 and apply it here except make everything weaker. The year has the worst depth among the main bracket entrants and Tetris is significantly weaker than Super Mario Bros. Heck Tetris is even lesser known as a 1986 game with 1989’s port to the Gameboy and NES being more popular, but I doubt voters will take that into account.

1986 could compete against some of the recent years if the top game matters more than depth, but even then depth would have to be a non-existent factor. Of course it is more likely 1986 will be given a low seed and will perhaps be placed against a pre-1985 year in a wildcard battle.

1986 with Tetris should be able to defeat any pre-1985 year with the exception of 1981. Tetris is by far the strongest game between the two years, but if depth has any meaning 1981 could pull off the upset.
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1985

Notable Games: Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt

The first main entrant continues the trend of pre-1985, but its top game is quite strong. It’s a shame Super Mario Bros. did not make the bracket in the last games contest so we have yet to see it in action against modern games.

One of the main questions in this contest will be whether the year will get its strength based on its strongest entrant or will depth matter more. In a games contest I would have no issue in taking Super Mario Bros. over several other year’s top game, but if you were to take the average strength for the year 1985 ends up as one of the weakest in the contest.

We’ll probably see it end up somewhere in the middle. I’d be surprised if 1985 ends up at the bottom of the x-stats, but it’ll probably fold against any year with strength or very good depth. I would love to see it go against a recent year just to see how it holds up.
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Pre-1985 Overview

As mentioned before 1981 will likely be the strongest year barring E.T. shenanigans. After that, things get a bit debatable; given how weak the overall field, will a single big named game be worth more than a bunch of lesser known games? I’m leaning towards yes which is why I currently have 1972, 1980 and 1983 rounding out my top four despite each of them only containing a single big game.

If consoles are mentioned in the write-ups 1977 may make some noise, but I feel the impact of consoles will be minimal in this contest regardless. 1978, 1979 and 1982 will all have a chance at causing an upset with 1979 being the most likely given its relative depth.

As for their performance in the main bracket they will be weak fodder. Assuming they get paired with the four weakest years I could see 1981 winning if they are given the right opponent, but the others will likely be easily defeated.

Year Rankings
1981
1980
1983
1972
1979
1978
1982
1971
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1982

Notable Games: Dig Dug, Donkey Kong Jr., E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Pitfall!

1982’s chances of making the bracket will largely be depended on whether E.T. gets mentioned in the poll. 1982 has a chance at being a joke entrant. While the video game crash is very important in video gaming history it is pretty much the opposite of Best Year in Gaming. Even without E.T. 1982 would have a decent chance at making the main bracket, the year may not have a main game, but it does have some relative depth.



1983

Notable Games: Mario Bros.

The video game crash was not kind to gaming. Mario Bros. never appeared in a contest though I believe it would have some strength. Currently I have it as a top four year, but I do admit it is a bit of a dark horse pick.
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1980

Notable Games: Ball (Game and Watch), Pac-Man

In terms of GameFAQs strength Pac-Man is probably the strongest pre-1985 game. 1980 doesn’t exactly have much else, but that may be all that is needed. If the Game and Watch is at all mentioned then the year should easily advance. Now that I think about it will consoles/handhelds/computers be mentioned? SBAllen didn’t mention them so I would think not, but if they are then that would change things (like 1977 would be considered due to the release of the Atari).



1981

Notable Games: Donkey Kong, Frogger, Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man

Among the pre-1985 years I would argue that 1981 will be the favourite to finish first. The year has depth and (relatively) strong games. Donkey Kong is arguably the second strongest game of the era while the other games would probably defeat any pre-1985 year’s second strongest game. The only way 1981 won’t finish first would be if SBAllen doesn’t remind us what games were released during that year or if the joke entrant year gets momentum.
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1978

Notable Games: Snake, Space Invaders

Space Invaders was another huge game during the era that has relatively stood against the test of time. We are also beginning to see years where more than one memorable game was released. I see the year being one of those on the outside looking in. Honestly I don’t see it finishing ahead of 1972 and it would probably have to in order to have any chance at making the main bracket.



1979

Notable Games: Adventure, Asteroids, Galaxian

I feel 1979 will have a great chance at making the main bracket. While it doesn’t have a huge game to fall back on it does have depth, whether that will be important in the write-in round is yet to be seen, but I imagine SBAllen will write a few example games in the poll. If he ends up writing a single game then 1979 may miss out.
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1971

Notable Games: The Oregon Trail

This is the earliest edition of the game, but I’m not sure if GameFAQs will use this date. The Oregon Trail will essentially go solo for 1971 and while that would be laughable in today’s age it is more than what other years have. I don’t expect the year to advance to the main bracket, but it will be one of the years on the outside looking in.



1972

Notable Games: Pong

Another year with only a single major release though to be fair Pong is one of the most well-known games in history. It probably won’t win against the pre-1985 years, but it could reach a top four finish. One issue that could sink 1972’s bid to the main bracket would be SFF. Pong suffers more from the Pac-Man effect than Pac-Man where it is a well-known game, but few people would rank it as their favourite and with many notable arcade/Atari games in the mix and the lack of diversity the year could be left behind.
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It’s contest season again and the theme is Best Year in Gaming. I will go through each of the 32 years (1985-2016) and a few of the earlier years and give my initial thoughts on how well they will perform. Games listed appeared in a GameFAQs contest match though I’ve added a few for the earlier years along with 2015 and 2016.
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This is a good idea. Even if 1998 would be the favourite other matches will be interesting.

How will the seeding go? Hopefully it won't be chronologically.
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10. Fire Emblem characters appear in the bracket for the first time - okay, the bracket expansion helped them but still seems crazy it took this long

The series was quite niche back then. Ike would have never made the contest until after he was announced for Brawl and I'm not sure if Marth would have made a 128 contest on Melee alone. Roy has still yet to make a contest.
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I'm happy that I still got 100%
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Ignoring rallies would anyone take Brawl over Melee again?
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If Clinton won congress would object to everything and nothing would get done.
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On_The_Pence posted...

As always, with little in return, countries like Britain, France, Germany, Japan, etc. never have to worry about war, because they know that any country that would invade them would be decimated by us in minutes. This is literally unprecedented.

You act as if those top 10 military spending nations wouldn't be able to defend themselves. Russia or China would never attack them because they too would lose a lot. Nations are better off trading than going to war.
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I'm pretty sure the US had the strongest military in 1914. Honestly any time after the civil war I'd say the US was number 1.
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On_The_Pence posted...

charmander6000 posted...

What you say is true, but you can also achieve the same peace by not being an a****** to other places.

the entirety of human history says otherwise

That was history, things have changed...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbuUW9i-mHs
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What you say is true, but you can also achieve the same peace by not being an a****** to other places.
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True and it will be a problem for Trump (and Republicans) when he seeks re-election.

It's still early, but the Democrats could be in for a very easy win if things continue in their current path.
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Eddv posted...

Well IN GENERAL the democratic plan was "relief for displaced workers" trump said "jobs for displaced workers" which you know cool but he cant deliver on, never had any intention of doing so and now actively cut their existing relief.

I think you overestimated on how many people educate themselves on the details of each party's platform. If the choices were "relief for displaced workers" vs. "jobs for displaced workers" it isn't hard to see why the latter would seem more appealing without knowing any details.
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Though to be clear I am also opposed in ending funding for that project. It's just that "you could be a coder" isn't a viable option for all miners.
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SupremeZero posted...

>.> My first Comp Sci professor started in coding when he was 50 or so. He was a chemist before that, I believe.

There's a bit more overlap between those two jobs. I could believe the average older generation miner is less likely to be interested in computers.
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Eddv posted...

charmander6000 posted...

When it's your livelihood at stake and the other side is saying there is no chance of them coming back it isn't hard to understand why people may go with Trump even if they knew in the back of their mind it was very unlikely.

One side is saying "coal isnt coming back, but here let me teach you to code" the other is saying "despite all available evidence, COAL IS KING"

That might work for some of the young people, but for the people working in the industry 20+ years it isn't a decent option, it would be like telling me 20 years into the future "medical research is dead go become a welder." The two jobs have very little overlap.
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When it's your livelihood at stake and the other side is saying there is no chance of them coming back it isn't hard to understand why people may go with Trump even if they knew in the back of their mind it was very unlikely.
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Are we not suppose to feel sorry for people who have been conned?
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What else is there for him to do? Congress hasn't exactly given him many bills to sign.
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Not_an_Owl posted...

Apparently the far-right ultranationalist party lost in the Netherlands' elections. Thank f*** at least one country still has a trace of sanity left.

To be fair even if the far-right party got the most votes they would unlikely be able to form government without major concessions.
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If Donald sent the 1040, then he would also know MSNBC has the 1040...so if they didn't reveal it, he'd be able to accuse them of not covering the 1040 so it'd be right back on to accusing the media of being against him. If this was indeed a trap, I dunno if MSNBC had a particularly foolproof way out of it without some credibility-attacks.

All they had to do was not make a huge deal about it because in essence it wasn't. From what I understand she hyped the information for over 20 minutes instead of a "some early data on Trump's taxes has been revealed..." tone.
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'We are all doing it': Employees at Canada's 5 big banks speak out about pressure to dupe customers

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/banks-upselling-go-public-1.4023575



I've known this for a while since I have a few family members working in the industry, but it's sad to see that Canada's banking industry turning into a bunch of used-car lots
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Nice
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Increasing taxes won't matter until we get rid of loopholes. If you make enough to pay 25% income tax then that's what you should pay.
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Well the media sells entertainment/ads not news

>_>

<_<
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I predict him using loopholes to his advantage like every other rich person yet we'll get a lot of people complaining.
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/cystic-fibrosis-survival-rates-1.4022970

To eliminate the possibility that different techniques in processing data might change the results, researchers used a standard approach to study data from the five years 1999 to 2013. It showed Americans with cystic fibrosis lived to a median age of 40.6 years, compared with 50.9 years for Canadians.

...

But the biggest difference may be in the health-care systems of the two countries and equitable access to treatment.

"People who had private insurance in the U.S. had a similar risk of death compared to Canadians ... whereas people in Canada had a 77 per cent lower risk of death compared with people in the U.S. with no insurance," Stephenson said.

People in the U.S. relying on Medicaid and Medicare also had a higher risk of death than Canadians.


So what did Medicaid/Medicare do?
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SupremeZero posted...

charmander6000 posted...

SupremeZero posted...

People gush over Japan?

Is that a question?

Some anime/manga fans are so crazy about Japan to the point where they might as well be Japanese

We're taking the opinions of american otaku as a significant political statement?

It's JonTron, he's more likely to be familiar with those types of people given the type of work he does.
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BowserCuffs posted...

charmander6000 posted...

Some anime/manga fans are so crazy about Japan to the point where they might as well be Japanese

Nope.

The Japanese themselves hate that kinda mindset.

And to be honest, I do, too.

Otaku aren't exactly well-regarded in Japan.

Too bad they (Americans) don't know that. I also hate that mindset.
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SupremeZero posted...

People gush over Japan?

Is that a question?

Some anime/manga fans are so crazy about Japan to the point where they might as well be Japanese
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Creating a two state solution for China/Taiwan is a lot simpler. China doesn’t have much true power in Taiwan (though it has a lot of influence). Taiwan for the most part has given up taking over mainland China (for obvious reasons) with the main options being join China, become independent or continue this more autonomous Hong Kong-like relationship.

A two state solution for Israel/Palestine is a lot more complicated with a major cause being the building of settlements in land which was originally divided up for Palestine. The West Bank has been so fragmented by those settlements Israel would essentially have to give back some land for anything to make sense.
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Jakyl25 posted...

It shows just how effective the white nationalist recruitment tricks are.

It's an easy, gradual slide from "ironic racism" to "the entire world should be segregated into ethnostates"

You can also see this happening to Vlado

I honestly was waiting for him to continue his logic and suggest US (and Canada) should go back to being First Nations dominant.
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A Scottish referendum was expected, they clearly wanted to stay. However, it's doubtful they would achieve independence within two years and I doubt the EU would let Scotland in right away after the UK left.

Basically the Scottish people could end up voting the worst option (no UK, no EU)
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ChaosTonyV4 posted...

charmander6000 posted...

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

Wait, I get it now.

How does it make someone a conceited b**** to think a bunch of swipes on Tindr feel good?

Isn't that literally just basic confidence?

For a match to happen both people have to swipe right so she's basically only swiping to see how many people liked her instead of using it as a dating/f***ing app.

And literally every dude I know just swipes everybody right.

In both cases, so what?

I have no issue with people who swipe right for everyone, just the ones that swipe right then don't message or don't even want to go out. The whole point of the app is to bring people together.
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ChaosTonyV4 posted...

Wait, I get it now.

How does it make someone a conceited b**** to think a bunch of swipes on Tindr feel good?

Isn't that literally just basic confidence?

For a match to happen both people have to swipe right so she's basically only swiping to see how many people liked her instead of using it as a dating/f***ing app.
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If your standards are that high then tinder is not for you, use a dating website/app that ask questions and doesn't basically let you judge based only on looks.
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Obviously insurance companies will negotiate for the best price, but in the end it's the hospitals/pharmaceutical companies which own the balance of power. A single payer system would shift the power to their side.

To be clear I am not advocating for no insurance because I to would rather not have people die.
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From a business perspective hospitals/pharmaceutical companies are able to raise their prices because insurance companies are able to pay them. A 100k bill is possible for insurance companies because multiple people are paying into the company instead of a single person who doesn’t have insurance. Hospitals/pharmaceutical companies can raise prices a lot higher as it only becomes a relatively small increase to your premiums. If an insurance company has enough and would like to no longer cover something then it could potentially lose customers and thus become bankrupt.

By removing insurance companies they must now charge individual people. For most people they can’t afford a 100k bill and while people may be dying for hospitals/pharmaceutical companies they are no longer selling their products. In order for them not to go bankrupt they must sell their services at a lower price, something more manageable for the middle class.

Of course that still means the lower class is dying, which is where single payer comes in. While costs would be higher relative to no insurance at all it would be lower than what it is in the current model because as the only insurer, if the state says no to a certain treatment then the healthcare company could go bankrupt and are thus more inclined in dropping their asking price so that their treatment stays covered.
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Yeah, there's no incentive for Democrats to play nicely, especially since the Republican strategy worked so well for Republicans. I want to say it's so bad right now that it would take a third party taking over and forcing the two to play nice.
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You could argue that the type of people that buy and rate Zelda games are Zelda fans and thus you are getting the rating of a pro-Zelda crowd. That isn’t exactly trolling as it is poor sampling.
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a) It's less likely for good games (like are there any average games where there's a second peak at 5 stars)
b) A score of 0.5 affects a game's average by more than a 5 stars rating
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User reviews are important, but for any big game there are a lot of troll scores.

On GameFAQs I tend to ignore 0.5 stars for blockbuster games, so BotW is a 9.5 game instead of a 9.1.
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