Lurker > ZenOfThunder

Anagram posted...

I didn't realize RH was doing this poorly.

It had like an 87% player drop off after a week. All the Youtubers and Streamers made their one video and moved on
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i did not expect this topic to live on in the form of an argument about jojo, but kokoro was able to see it because of that and leave a good list of recommendations so i guess it all worked out

thank you kokoro

as far as Jojo goes I skipped 1 and 2 because I had read the beginning of the manga of 3 as a kid

I did not actually like 3 much and it took me maybe a year to finish it. actually, I don't think I ever did.

I finished Part 4 in like a week though, I liked it way more.

Maybe I'll watch parts 1 and 2 someday, I think there's other anime I'd rather watch though
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i didn't see the "2.5 seconds" part til now sorry

love, zen
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here i really hammed it up enjoy

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19X6RQIGodNCt3qaa1zRKIsCCuemvkM93/
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Tokoyami posted...

Have you watched anything Fate? I adore Fate/Zero and Unlimited Blade Works

a long time ago KamikazePotato had me play Fate/Stay Night and even though I thought it was pretty good I ended up not following the series. F/SN must have left an impression on me tho cuz I still think about it from time to time. Where do you start if you wanna get back in?

LapisLazuli posted...

Steins;Gate

I added Steins;Gate to my list just yesterday specifically because everyone on this board talks about it so much. I'll def be watching it soon. is there anything I need to know before going in?

everything else people recommended itt I will def be watching at least the first few episodes of. thanks guys!
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I have seen Kill La Kill and liked it, I also watched TTGL. Most of Trigger's stuff is good.

Also seen FMA:B and I liked it a lot

I like anime but I don't watch enough of it. I randomly watched Gate when it premiered and I liked it at first but in retrospect it was pretty trash. Neat premise that was poorly executed.
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I have watched Jojo seasons 3 and 4, can't believe I forgot that one. They're pretty great.

I will add Parasyte to the list, it looks dope, thanks guys
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I have this account that I only use for My Hero Academia and recently Megalo Box

I don't watch much modern anime, I don't wanna get into something really long like One Piece

I immensely enjoy Yu Yu Hakusho. I'm open to pretty much anything tho.

I did not enjoy Sword Art Online or Attack on Titan

Thank you for your time Board 8 friends
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people complaining "but spider-man 2 was announced!! it invalidates any emotions I felt during this movie therefore MOVIE BAD!!" are basically saying "comic books are bad because each arc doesn't matter because there is another arc after it"
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i worked the first half of free comic book day, almost all the books were gone by 11. usually we open at 11, but we opened at 8 today for FCBD, and even though we advertised all over the store and on our website, people just assumed we were opening at 11 and were super salty they missed the good books

it's also our 50% off trades, back issues and manga sale, we made a killing

had a comic book industry vet of 27 years come in and do a signing, he's great with kids, he did really well selling prints

FCBD is a good day

i got no free comics but the vet signed my Tom Hardy Venom mini-poster because he had colored Venom for 5 years and that was enough of a connection for me
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Inhumans was rushed because Jeph Loeb (I think) signed a deal promising IMAX something for September, so without a script or premise or solid cast they pushed forward with Inhumans episodes 1 and 2 to get them ready for IMAX. It was such a close call that they didn't even get to cut them together without the "PREVIOUSLY ON INHUMANS" in between the two episodes, it was basically like Marvel handing in their assignment the night before without proof reading.

Then it sucked ass and nobody watched it and the cancelled it after Season 1 and tried to save face by saying it was a limited series
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Xeybozn posted...

I've never read any comics. How do the X-Men fit in with the normal Marvel universe? I thought the big thing with X-Men is that mutants are discriminated against, but then for some reason that doesn't apply to "normal" superheroes who should be hated for similar reasons. How does that work?

Technically all super heroes are mutants of some sort, the lore (if this is still canon) is that the Celestials came to Earth when it was first created, and planted a sort of "seed of potential" in all the life forms.

That seed is now "blossoming" and creating mutants. Eventually all peoples' seed will blossom after a few more generations, and everyone will be a mutant. This hasn't been figured out yet.

If your seed hasn't "blossomed" you can kick-start it in several ways. While humanity was still young the Kree, sensing the seed of potential in humanity, abducted some cavemen and forced their seeds to mutate, creating the Inhumans. Now the Inhumans use the Terrigan Crystals to force-start the mutations in every generation.

For other, normal people, you can get bit by a radioactive spider or exposed to gamma rays or something, which will kickstart your dormant seed and give you corresponding powers. Marvel did a book once, I forget what it was called, where the Celestials never brought the seed to earth, and as a result of that missing element, Bruce Banner and Spider-Man just got radiation poisoning and died terrible deaths.

Again, I don't know if this is still canon, a lot of it was discussed in Earth-X, which was supposed to be the ultimate, inescapable future for the Marvel Universe where all this comics to light, but that was a long time ago.
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LeonhartFour posted...

hey since Zen is hanging around

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/bge09/bge09-55-4.jpg

remember this?

I THINK ABOUT THIS ON A NEARLY DAILY BASIS

I HAVE REPENTED THROUGH MY SHAME
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you don't need zen to do write-ups

the write-ups were in your heart all along
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If the Fox deal goes through they'll figure something out that can work for both, or just do Avengers vs. X-Men. They'll also have Doctor Doom back so they might use him.

If not, then probably Kang.
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My point is more that they got out of their way to include Shadow when nobody else outside of the main 5 plus Eggman, Orbot and Cubot are in it. They have a Metal Sonic episode and randomly a Vector episode. The writers mention how hard it is for them to get SEGA to let them use other characters, but for Shadow they managed to get him for both Season finales, and the plot of his first episode is "holy shit it's SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG, THE SECOND MOST POPULAR CHARACTER"
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Tom Nook
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (2017), Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival (2015)

I'm going out of order for a bit because I want to go to sleep, and Kefka involves too much research and thinking.

I love Tom Nook. I mentioned earlier that I only have some amiibos, well I have two Tom Nook amiibos because they were on clearance once so I got another one. Tom Nook is the fucking boss.

While general audiences seem to also love the Nookie, it's more for the general recognizability that he commands as "that one dude from Animal Crossing, the game I kinda like and usually play when a new one comes out."

At this point, would Villager be a better rep than Nook? He's got a Smash game under his belt and is the subject of a bunch of memes. He's arguably a better rep. Would Isabelle do better? There's tons of por-- err, fan art of her floating around the internet, and she even managed to get into Mario Kart. Is Tom Nook's time finally up?

In any case, I assume Tom Nook would get a minor boost this year, and he's had pretty consistent new appearances as well as being in the smash-hit-for-a-week-because-that's-how-mobile-games-work Pocket Camp, and he has tons of merchandise and exposure.

Tom's had some small wins over Pyramid Head (although it was pretty close) and a throwaway Tales character, but he couldn't beat a main Tales character or a random Pokemon. I'd argue that Villager could beat Lloyd at this point. Tom Nook is probably better off sitting the next one out and passing the torch to the next generation.
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Wario
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: WarioWare Gold (2018), Mario Tennis Aces (2018), Game & Wario (2013),

It has been a decade since WarioLand: Shake It! for the Wii. Since them, we've had WarioWare DIY and Game & Wario, and now we have a WarioWare compilation coming out. Wario has been in tons of sports and party games, but in terms of "original video game that isn't a 'game maker' or compilation," the well has been dry.

But this is Wario, just Mario but fat(ter) and evil(?). People love him, right? Eh. Wario only seems to get votes out of obligation. Wario is the guy that your asshole friend picks in Mario Kart at a party. Does anyone have a real affinity for him? People who play WarioWare seem to love Mona, Jimmy, Ashley, everyone but Wario. People on this very board were ragging on him for "ruining" the Brawl reveal trailer.

Reminder: Wario didn't even get enough votes in the 2010 vote-in polls and missed the contest. That's pretty bad for a "core" Nintendo character. In 2013 he lost to Wrex from Mass Effect. Sure, Red was also in the poll, but he didn't even come close. Wario falls apart when facing someone with a modicum of actual fans. He's good filler but Wario is never going to be a real threat in that contest.

Shadow the Hedgehog
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Sonic Forces (2017)

Sonic Forces was the first time in 10 years that Shadow was actually playable in a Sonic game as a main character in his own missions. His story was free DLC, though, and it was obviously made on a budget because the cutscenes are all just dialogue boxes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0DyBi2Yl64#t=4m30s

Seriously, try to sit through that if you're not a Sonic fan. Yeeeesh.

So that shows where SEGA puts Shadow on the priority list, but at least he has DLC, unlike anyone else in that game.

So far, compared to the rest of Forces, Shadow's story adds way more than any other DLC or even some of the main plot threads like Classic Sonic. However, Sonic Forces didn't sell as well as Mania, and people seem to be taking big dumps on it, so if Shadow had a big chance for a comeback, it might be passed.

People shit on Shadow, but people secretly like him. It's weird to say, but people did tear up back in the day when he FUCKIN' DIED at the end of Sonic Adventure 2. His game was a joke, yeah, and as a result, he missed two contests the same year and the year after (the year of Sonic 06), but regardless of how poorly those games were received, Shadow still gets a spotlight in all the spinoff games.

Shadow is often regarded as the most popular outside of the main three, and in Japanese character polls, he's always #2 behind Sonic. We are at this weird point where everything we hated in the early 2000s is now kind of cool again, or at least ironically cool, as evidenced by Pikachu making waves lately. There's a new generation of Sonic kids who grew up exclusively with the newer Archive comics, the mid-2000s games, and recently, Sonic Boom, which included Shadow in both the terrible game and the TV show. Normally I'd say that younger kids wouldn't come to this site, but younger Sonic nerds? Maybe.

Shadow could potentially do well if given proper bracket placement. All SEGA characters kind of share Nintendo's fanbase at this point, and they will probably receive a boost on a smaller level. I don't think he'll be getting to Round 3 but he might be able to impress. Could Shadow beat Zidane today? Maybe not, but it might be closer than we'd give him credit for.

This write-up was guest-written by my girlfriend who has an expensive Shadow the Hedgehog statue on the shelf next to her so please excuse any heavy bias.
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Zero
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Mega Man X Legacy Collection/2 (2018), Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite (2017)

There should be some kind of cool designation for characters like Zero, Auron, Sub-Zero, Ganondorf and Bowser that have always done consistently well in contests and only really lose to each other and the Noble Nine. Something that's cooler than "upper midcarder" or "near-elite."

Anyway, Zero is a beast in these things, and yeah he's had his fair share of beatings, but it's usually because he's way outside of his weight class. He's given some good matches and has destroyed other characters, but once his strength was well established he didn't waver much and it always made things pretty predictable for him.

He somehow failed to hold back Mega Man enough for Charizard to slip by in 2013, something almost everyone agreed would be the obvious outcome of that match. That probably speaks more for MM fans' loyalty to the Blue Bomber himself and not any real weakness on Zero's part.

But what's Zero been up to? Well, he was top-tier in Marvel 3, and I guess people used him in Marvel Infinite, but only about two dozen people bought that game. Other than appearing in crossover games and collections, Zero hasn't had his own game in 11 years. It's not like Mega Man X is a franchise still pumping out games, either. Zero is pretty much cruising by on good will and nostalgia at this point.

So in CBX, who knows where he'll stand? He's still a badass and people still know and love him. Capcom is only second to Nintendo in churning out beloved, iconic video game characters, and Zero has some kind of semi-immunity from age. He'll probably be consistent but I wouldn't take him over the other upper midcarders.

Ugh. Hate that term. Can someone more talented than me make a list of characters around Auron/Zero's strength and come up with a cooler name?

Captain Olimar
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Hey! Pikmin (2017), Smash Bros. for Wii U (2014), Pikmin 3 (2013)

I don't know what Hey! Pikmin is. I forget the franchise exists a lot of the time. You know who doesn't? Shigeru Miyamoto. He directed those short Pikmin movies that were exclusively on the e-shop, and apparently they were cute, but did they find any mass success?

I don't think Olimar has any real strength in these contests. Does anyone care about him? He's... nice. Got an OK design. He's the main character of what is basically a Nintendo B-franchise. Pikmin was a year old in 2003 and he only got a 16 seed, then Pikmin 2 was released around the nomination period for 2004 and he was absent. In 2013 he did OK against Shepard and was able to put a beating on Kain, but I think it's more the Sore Thumb Factor and general Nintendo bias at the time helping him. Also, it's Kain.

Smash 5 probably doesn't help Olimar much. I don't think Nintendo hype helps the "newer" Nintendo characters as much, like is Ike going to get a massive boost? Can't imagine Olimar love coming out of nowhere in 2018. It's doubtful we'll see Olimar again unless the field is massive.
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Master Chief
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Halo 5: Guardians

Mood setting poll: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/6042

The most I ever see about Master Chief in 2018 are videos asking what happened to Halo 5 and the Halo franchise as a whole. Apparently that entire marketing campaign for Halo 5 where you were supposed to fight Master Chief was some kind of lie and that's only like the first hour of the game.

Halo used to have a really dedicated, passionate fanbase, and it was almost a movie/tv series produced by Stephen Spielberg. But then people stopped caring because Bungie stepped away and the new studio messed with the core gameplay and took the story in a direction nobody wanted to see, so that fanbase just slowly disappeared.

Couple that with the Master Chief Collection being a broken mess online (it still hasn't been patched) and you have a recipe for a character who gets blown out in Round 1 but Yuna in 2013. 5 years later, can we expect Chief to do any better?

Of course not! There's nostalgia for Halo 1 and 2 and maybe even 3, but probably not on this site. XBONE isn't the most popular system here, and while Halo used to be the must-have game for the console, I don't think that's the status quo today. He might do OK in multis, but probably not as well as he used to.

Chief could still squeeze out a minor victory in 1-v-1, but if gets a bad draw it wouldn't be shocking to see him give into his Master Choke habits once again. If contests become a regular thing again, expect to see the Chief slowly fade away until one day he just isn't in a contest and somebody makes a topic a few hours after the bracket was released asking "where's Master Chief?" only for a dozen of us jaded Board 8ers to respond "Who?"

Felix
Last Contest: 2003
Last Game: Golden Sun: The Lost Age (2002)

"Who?"

I actually never played Golden Sun. This guy almost beat Master Chief in 2003, but is that really an accomplishment? If he were to appear today he'd be fodder of the highest caliber. I don't even know what to say here. He wasn't even in that third Golden Sun game that Isaac was in.

My girlfriend just asked who I was writing about and I said "Felix from Golden Sun, I don't know what to say about him" and her response was "is that a game?"

shit
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Conker
Last Contest: 2005
Last Game: Rare Replay (2015), Project Spark (2014)

do you remember this hit video from Certified Racist Jonathan Aryan Jafari:



that about sums up Conker and how Microsoft has treated him. They don't give him a real game, they make some DLC for a game nobody bought with Conker assets so that you can make your own! Uh... Alright, I guess.

Rare Replay got some buzz but nobody cares.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/6199-best-of-2015-xbox-one

I guess it technically is the best performing actual XBONE exclusive in that poll. That was 2 years ago, though, and if anybody did care, they probably don't anymore.

Conker holds a special place in my heart, I still have my cartridge and even my dad knows and loves Conker and still talks about him.

That doesn't matter much, though. Conker is dead at Microsoft's hands. Not even a big remake (which he kinda got at one point) could help him. There are better "edgy" Platform characters that exist now, Conker was just the first. Maybe they don't all say "shit" but you don't really need that to make that type of character good.

Sora
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 + II.5 Remix

In every single appearance since 2004, Sora has gotten to Round 3 and gotten knocked out. He's never gotten further but he's never fallen before then.

What's up with Kingdom Hearts? Well, the series is incredibly hard to follow and has been "kind of" dormant for the past 8 years. I say "kind of" because 2010 was the year Birth by Sleep came out, which, to me, is the last game in the series that was actually necessary to play.

But Square went out of their way to re-release everything from all those different systems into neat little packages, then put those packages into neat little packages, to make sure gamers are ready for Kingdom Hearts III which is coming soon-ish.

The KHIII hype is real, and I am on board that train, despite absolutely hating where the series has gone I still want to run around with Buzz and Woody and explore Big Hero 6 Land and shit they have me by my goddamn balls, I hate Kingdom Hearts and what it does to me. I am a consumer pig.

Back to the point: Can Sora finally break out of Round 3? Will be finally fall flat on his face and get knocked out in Round 2? Well, Sora came dangerously close to Pikachu in 2013, but that's because Blue was in the match with them. Would Sora be able to beat Pikachu today? No, no way in hell.

Nintendo has just gotten stronger and the Square Family seems to have stagnated a little bit. Unfortunately, there are a ton of high-level Nintendo characters in Round 3, so Sora has a high chance of bumping into one of them and getting punked. If KHIII were to have some crazy announcements or trailers on the day of is R3 match against someone close to him in strength, maybe he can get a hype boost?

Sora will still be strong, but it's just bad timing for someone who has potential to be a juggernaut if his game were just a bit earlier on the release calendar.
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Ness
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Super Mario Maker (2015), Smash Smash Bros. for Wii U (2014)

Why were people surprised when Ness beat CJ? When did the board first figure out that games =/= characters?

Ness has a ridiculously loyal fanbase, perhaps one of the strongest I've ever seen. The dude has been in like... one game, and he's a Smash mainstay. Yet year after year he shows up and doesn't completely embarrass himself.

Not to say Ness ever makes a splash. As stated, he did beat CJ, and he spanked Travis, Jak, Zidane and especially Geno, and he got decently close to Big Daddy once. Ness weeds out the fodder from the actual contestants. Is Ness like some kind of advanced fodder line? He feels too strong to be the line itself but it's not like he's beating anyone that matters.

Anyway, yeah, Nintendo boost, whatever. Does it apply to Ness? Earthbound is on the SNES Classic, but does that help him out? My house mate is now able to play it for the first time and he likes it, but he's a pretty casual gamer. I don't think people getting the SNES Classic are unaware of Ness and Earthbound, so if he does get a boost, it will be minimal.

Summary: Ness and Earthbound's fanbase aren't going anywhere, the question is now just "how does Ness grow an existing fanbase without any new games coming possibly ever?"

Yoshi
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Super Mario Odyssey (2017)

People like Yoshi, right? He's kind of got the Bowser problem but bigger. Everyone knows Yoshi. They love Yoshi. Girls like to play as Yoshi when you invite them over to play Mario Kart or Smash Bros. Does the Yoshi fanbase go to GameFAQs? Not really. But GameFAQs still loves Yoshi enough that he gives some OK matches. Remember 2006?

Patriot Round 1 --- Defeated (3) Riku, 69394 [55.20%] - 56325 [44.80%]
Patriot Semifinal --- Defeated (2) Dante, 65497 [50.55%] - 64072 [49.45%]

He let Riku, not Sora, get super close to him, and yeah this was during that Kingdom Hearts hype, but it was Riku. But then the next round he managed to beat Dante and did respectably against Snake.

After that Yoshi kind of stopped being entertaining. He's not going anywhere and he's probably just as strong as 2013, but I don't think this is going to be Yoshi's year. He isn't even really in Mario Odyssey for more than a tiny bit, and his Switch game has almost no info so we won't be seeing it any time soon.

Yoshi is cool tho, not everyone can get good bracket placement so hopefully he isn't just turned into some kinda jobber for someone to punk in R2 this year.
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Auron
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 + II.5 Remix (2017)

Recently my friends and I had this big ironic Beyblade tournament, but it was really just an excuse to get drunk and throw plastic toys at each other. I was in charge of the soundtrack and picked exclusively anime and video game music from the late 90s to early 2000s.

"Overworld" came on about halfway through the party, and one of my (very drunk) friends bolted down the stairs yelling "AAAAWWWW SHIT IT'S DA AURON MUSIC!!!!" and then he tripped and fell and somehow didn't crack his head open

That's pretty much the most I've thought of Auron since the last contest. What's he been up to? Auron is definitely the strongest character from FFX, claiming a victory over Sonic at one point in his contest career.

However, because he wasn't the main character, Square throws him a lot less bones. He was lucky to make an appearance in Kingdom Hearts II, and maybe he'll even be in III, but II was a long time ago and III is still a ways away. The remasters were recent, but Auron fever seems to have died down a bit.

I remember in one of Ulti's write-ups for an early Auron appearance, he mentions that he would like Final Fantasy X-0 to become a reality so that Auron (and Jecht, I guess) would get a big contest boost. Is it too late for that to happen? In 5 years once that FFVII remake is out, will Square then dip into their back catalogue again and crank out the long-awaited FFX prequel?

Back on track, Auron has always done well in these things, but he was never strong enough to secure any major wins other than a small Sonic upset in the multis. In 2013, everyone expected him to kick L-Block's ass, but he wasn't able to do that and you aren't going to tell me he got LFF'd by Ezio. Is Auron weaker? I... really don't know. I love the guy, but he might be past his prime. He'll still be strong in a contest, but his level of strength will be debatable.

Bowser
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Mario Tennis Aces (2018), Super Mario Odyssey (2017)

I don't have many Amiibo, but I went out of my way to get the Mario Odyssey Bowser amiibo that's in the tux and tophat. For reasons unknown I refer to it as "Big Dick Bowser." I called him that once and my friend asked why, and I said "because he fucks." He then took a good look at the amiibo and nodded in agreement.

Bowser is going to get a Nintendo boost and an Odyssey boost, there's no doubt about it. He's also got that Smash 5 hype going for him. Bowser could be a powerhouse in this contest, but he usually has a really predictable path. He's had some close upsets but it's hard for him to seal the deal. Remember when he almost beat Snake in 2005?

But then Leon Kennedy gets ridiculously close to him and it makes you wonder where this guy is on the charts. He's also super susceptible to LFF and SFF. People seem to like Bowser, but not love him. If he's in a multi with other Nintendo characters, people will dive off the Bowser ship without much thought. If it's just Bowser in a match against non-Nintendo guys, he has the full force of #TeamNintendo behind him.

So Bowser's performance in CBX is going to be super dependent on the format and his placement. We could see Bowser getting pretty deep into the bracket this year, but we can also seem him out in Round 2 if he goes up against someone people care more about. Or maybe Mario Odyssey have made people fall in love with Big Dick Bowser all over again and he'll be a powerhouse. He has my vote.
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Isaac and all of Preston's suggestions from 2008 on are really good, I think Mr. Game & Watch could have a good shot at being considered the new Fodder Line. Honestly so much has changed since 2013 that I have no idea how our existing fodder/filler characters will perform in CBX.
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KOS-MOS
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (2017), Project X Zone 2 (2015)

I was never into any of the Xeno games, I actually got like 10 hours into Xenoblade but then I went an hour without saving and died so I stopped playing. It was really good though! Totally worth the five thousand dollars to get a used copy from GameStop that was actually new but they charged more for it used so they just opened them up and called them used.

I hate GameStop. They kind of shot themselves in the foot with how they structure their business model around pushing pre-orders and rewards cards and magazine subscriptions, making it super uncomfortable to shop there. Then they punished their employees for not selling enough so the managers started faking numbers. Now they're in the whole because everyone knows they suck and they have alternatives in the form of Amazon, Best Buy and digital, so they try making money on selling useless garbage like Pop Figures and I guess used cell phones or whatever the hell. What a trash company.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, KOS-MOS. Remember that Character Battle fanfiction where Tommy Vercetti beat Master Chief at Poker, and he made Cortana reprogram KOS-MOS into his sex slave? That was super creepy. Who wrote that? Why did you do that? It's the only thing I remember from that year's fic. Then I started writing them and boy were they awful. They're still on fanfiction.net somewhere but I forgot my old password to delete them. Hopefully nobody I know ever finds them.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, KOS-MOS. Remember that time CJayC forgot to make a match picture for KOS-MOS and for a few hours the poll just had no pic? I think it was 2008 when she was against Ganondorf and Frog. You could actually see from the trends that she didn't start gaining steam until she got her picture with the boobies. Some take it as definitive proof of TJF.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, KOS-MOS. I think the fact that I want to talk about everything but KOS-MOS is an indicator that she as a character hasn't had much going on recently. I didn't play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 but I hear it's great. I'll probably get it someday. Does she just make a cameo or something? I see it listed on her list of appearances on Giant Bomb but I didn't know she was in it. I hope I didn't just spoil something, shit. Sorry.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, KOS-MOS. She's had some OK performances. She beat Crash and some (more) obscure JRPG characters. She was pretty iconic of her generation, being on the front of the Xenosaga boxes. Everyone who went to GameStop would see those boxes all over the place. See, GameStop! Full circle.

So where is KOS-MOS in strength now? Probably weaker, unless she had some big role in XC2 that I haven't heard of. I don't think she'll be back unless there's a huge field, but the XS crowd seems pretty devoted, so maybe we'll see her slip in at a low seed. Hopefully she doesn't get matched up with Tommy Vercetti.

Full circle!

Isaac
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (2010)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/6269
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/6918

It's nice to see Isaac still getting some love! Not that Sakurai gives him any. As I said earlier, Isaac got cut as an Assist Trophy between Brawl and 4. Does that mean Nintendo no longer sees Golden Sun as relevant?

RPGs take a lot of time to make, and Nintendo recently announced a new RPG IP... For iPhones! Uhh...

If they aren't even going to use their existing IPs on their phone games, what hope does Isaac have for a comeback? His biggest ever win was Guybrush Threepwood. Yeah, maybe it's time for Isaac to go the way of his Assist Trophy and not make a return.
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Luigi
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Mario Tennis Aces (2018), Super Mario Odyssey: Luigi's Balloon World (2018)

Luigi is the 2003 Champion that never was. People assumed he would be strong for some reason. I mean, he is. He's Mario's brother! Mario's Green brother. Shit, what was his name again?

Green Mario has the same problem as Red Ryu: He's iconic, just not as important. Green Mario exists solely in these contests to job to promising newcomers or other high midcarders that want to impress. If you read Ulti's writeups for every match containing Green Mario, they usually mention he had a "solid performance."

2013 was the Year of Green Mario and he was given a match against Big Boss when MGS was at its strongest with Ness in the match to LFF him down to second place. He just can't get a break and has never really impressed in these contests, just disappointed.

So where is Green Mario now? Well, he's... got his own DLC in his brother's game that came a few months after the hype had died down. He hasn't had his own game since his year in 2013 when Green Mario's Mansion: Dark Moon came out as well as a re-skin of some Mario game where they made him Green. Everything else has been sports or party games or Smash Bros. There's a remake of his first Mansion game coming soon, but probably not in time for the contest.

I do not respect Green Mario. I don't think I can. I know some people look at him with endearment, but it's the same kind of look you give someone with terminal illness. It's sad to see that he never got his shot in these contests. With the increased focus on Nintendo on this site, you can expect him to get bumped up in strength, but that bump also applies to most of the characters that have beaten him before, so nothing will probably change for him. I hope I'm proven wrong, because even though I don't respect Luigi, I still love him in some weird way and I'm happy when he gets the spotlight. I think we all do.

Ratchet
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Ratchet & Clank (2016)

I cannot believe Ratchet had a movie. Like, for real, I can't believe it because I barely head about it or saw any footage from it. Apparently the movie-tie in game that was actually by Insomniac was good, but not like Earth-shatteringly good, just really above average. I almost think it got attention because the last few Ratchet games were so awful that any return to form was noteworthy.

Where is Ratchet on the fodder line? Is Vyse still the Fodder Line? I feel like Ratchet would be a solid pick for the new Fodder Line as he has a decent sized fanbase, a few OK wins, games and appearances coming fairly regularly, and pretty consistent performance from contest to contest.

Ratchet managed to beat Shulk and Eddie Riggs and that's really it. Is he stronger than that now? Well, people seem to care about the platformers they grew up with more and more, so he might have seen some growth. It says something that he's managed to stay semi-relevant after so many mediocre games. If he had any growth it's probably slim, but I think his general recognizability might keep him as a decent filler character that nobody will be miffed to see included.

On the other hand, if we never see Ratchet again that won't be a big loss.
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Sam Fisher
Last Contest: 2007
Last Game: Ghost Recon: Wildlands (2017), Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist (2013)

There's a really touching moment in the recent Ghost Recon: Wildlands Sam Fisher DLC event where he asks what's happened to Solid Snake:



"Then it's only me..."

I wish that were pertinent in a contest setting. Sam Fisher is as dead as Tom Clancy. Too soon? Sorry. Sam's series was actually really good, and Sam had his fair of decent showings, in the form of... beating Gordon Freeman and Simon Belmont. I remember him being better in these things. Whoops.

Sam didn't make it into the bracket in 2013, even though Blacklist was right around the corner. I don't think anyone on this site cared or ever cared at all about Sam, and now it seems like Ubisoft feels the same way. The fanbase was pretty upset when Michael Ironside was replaced as Sam's voice actor, and a lot of the diehards actually skipped playing that game, which is not good for a series on a downward spiral already.

If Sam were to appear today? Well, other than the free DLC mission in Wildlands, he hasn't had any real appearances in about 5 years, so it's safe to say he wouldn't do well anymore. Still, with the right match picture and matchup, he might be able to pull off a minor miracle.

Magus
Last Contest: 2003
Last Game: Chrono Trigger (PC)(2018)

I like to shit on Crono a lot but I'm usually joking. Magus, on the other hand, deserves that shit. Terribly, liquidy shit.

I never got the hype surrounding Magus. To me he was always the Piccolo of Chrono Trigger. He's a big bad, he turns out not to be all that bad, then he just kind of... stopped being as relevant as Crono (in a contest setting). Anyone still unfortunate enough to be watching Dragon Ball Super knows what I mean.

Remember when Magus got punked by Sandbag? By Knuckles? He couldn't come close to Alucard. Then his bracket placement was so bad in 2013 that he ended up in Crono in Round 2.

Will Magus ever return to glory. Uh... What glory? The dude beat Ganondorf in 2003, the year that Zelda was at its lowest point. He also beat Otacon and Crash Bandicoot one time. Can anybody explain to me why year after year people crawl out from behind their rocks (their rocks that have a TV and an SNES installed with only Chrono Trigger on it) to proclaim that this year will be Magus' year?

Can I remind you that not even Square Enix cares about Chrono Trigger? Did you know there was a PC port just a few months ago? Did you know it was an awful, broken port of the iOS version put out just to make some quick cash at the expense of the uninformed consumer? Chrono Trigger is now being used as bait! The franchise is dead. Magus is dead. Was he ever really alive?

Sorry to everyone who likes Chrono Trigger, I played it once and it was pretty good. As someone who never got a real sequel to his favorite game (Elite Beat Agents) I know your pain and hope you one day get something better than a bad iOS port.
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AiAi
Last Contest: 2003
Last Game: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012), Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz (2012)

It's been 7 years since a Super Monkey Ball game, and 12 years since one was on consoles. Hard to believe 2006 was so long ago, but here we are, in 2018 with no Monkey Balls. How did we end up in this timeline?

AiAi was a one-and-done that couldn't break 10% against Link. I would argue that Monkey Ball is kind of a Nintendo franchise even though it's made by SEGA and that SFF was probably involved in some way, but does it matter?

AiAi was fresh off of Super Monkey Ball 2 in 2003. In 2018 he'd probably do even worse. Is it safe to say that Monkey Ball is a dead franchise?

Ganondorf
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017), Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (2016)

When we last saw Ganondorf he was doing one of those Ganondorf dives from Smash Bros and pulling Mario off the stage in a murder-suicide the likes of which we had never seen, leaving only the young and innocent Vivi to carry on to the next round.

Before that Ganondorf was once considered to be stronger than Link. Back in 2003, the conception was "villains are cooler so they must be stronger!" But then he lost to Magus in round 2. Magus lost to Knuckles a few years later, so where does that leave Ganondorf?!

The next year Ganondorf went toe-to-toe with Alucard, once against just barely squeaking by. He then got to his long-awaited match with Link, and... Well, he lost. He lost hard. I think the idea of SFF was gestating in the womb of Board 8 during 2003, and 2004 was an outright confirmation that people will just vote for the main character most of the time, although there are some notable exceptions. Why would you vote for Ganondorf, the dude you are trying to kill in most Zelda games? You get really attached to Link, why vote for the pig man that wants Link dead?

Ganondorf has been able to stand on his own since then. He's done respectably in these contests and proven he isn't just Link's bitch. Unfortunately, the massive boost Link and Zelda are set to receive from BotW most likely won't apply to Ganondorf, who doesn't appear in his human form at all during the game. He's just so big ugly monster or giant cloud throughout the entirety, and he doesn't get any lines or even cutscenes setting him up. He doesn't even get enough respect to be called "Ganon," he is exclusively referred to as "Calamity Ganon" the entire game.

So will Ganondorf see a boost? Yes. Because he's Nintendo and this is now Nintendo Land. Will it be huge? Ehhhh... We'll see. Probably not.
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it's mario vs crono

this shouldn't be a match

props to tanner tho
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i agree with the comments that this Gamora is not the "deadliest woman in the universe" like she is in the comics. i was always upset we didn't get a design more akin to Adi Granov's Nova covers:


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the only two things I did not like in the movie:

When Heimdall dies, he flops into frame and the background music goes DUN DUN DUNNNNNN like what the hell is that shit

Proxima Midnight had to fight Scarlet Witch, Okoye and Black Widow because "girl"

those are both nitpicks yeah i don't care it bugged me

good movie
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LeonhartFour posted...

ZenOfThunder posted...

I remember when the long-defunct pre-Wiki Character Battle info site was being updated, whoever was running it (can't remember who you are, sorry dude!)

MMXCalibur

holy shit THANK YOU it was on the tip of my tongue!! does MMX still come around here?
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Ulala
Last Contest: 2002
Last Game: Project X Zone 2 (2015), Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012)

http://board8.wikia.com/wiki/Ulala

Notice anything weird about that? Yeah, I wrote her description! I have never played a Space Channel 5 game, but the thing is, nobody on this board has. I remember when the long-defunct pre-Wiki Character Battle info site was being updated, whoever was running it (can't remember who you are, sorry dude!) needed people to volunteer to write bios for some of the characters, and Ulala was the LAST ONE to not have one, so I just did it to help out.

So I guess that shows how popular Ulala is. She got a bio after Gabe Logan and Mr. Driller.

Ulala seems to be one of SEGA's go-to characters for crossovers and the like. They want to remind you of Space Channel 5 but they don't want to go through the trouble of remaking, remaster or developing a proper sequel to it. Rhythm games have changed since Space Channel 5 and there's probably no room for it in the modern landscape of Vita-exclusive Hatsune Miku games.

Ulala probably has some fans but they sure as hell aren't here. Of all the characters from 2002 who are unlikely to ever come back, I'd say Ulala might have the slimmest chances of all, which is really saying something. At least other characters did so poorly they might get a joke nomination rally, or maybe they're actually getting new games like Serious Sam, but Ulala is just boring enough with a firmly dead franchise that there's nothing in the world that could ever get her back in.

...

And that's that for 2002! Wow, this project is taking a lot longer than I thought. It's weird to say that these contests are my "hobby," but writing these little bios and talking about the drama on the board surrounding some characters and matches is a ton of fun. I might make a spinoff topic or something and archive this for future reference when all my predictions are proven untrue in the coming months.

If anyone has any special requests or corrections, please let me know! If you wanna see more or less of me waxing poetic or more numbers or something, shout it out and I'll see what I can do.
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ok i went through all the trouble of putting on pants and just as I was walking out the door my girlfriend reminded me that I did get my housemate a present and that I put it in my closet

definitely date 3D, they remember things you don't remember

unfortunately I dedicate almost all of my memory banks to video game character popularity contests.

Gabe Logan
Last Contest: 2002
Last Game: Syphon Filter, Combat Ops (2007), Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow (2007)

Here I was just a few write-ups ago talking about characters that were so popular that their names ended up in the titles of their franchises. Obvious when Bend Games was coming up with the name for Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow they knew they had to include the name of the iconic Syphon Filter protagonist, Gabe Logan in the title somewhere. How else would people know that Gabe Logan was in the game?! He had grown beyond Syphon Filter and was way more than just a Solid Snake knockoff.

Popularly known as the 10th member of the Noble Nine,Gabe Logan would go on to appear in every single contest and win two of them. From the beginning he was putting up great numbers on opponents that should have far outclassed him, going toe-to-toe with Sephiroth in his first ever appearance, landing a massive...

Twelve... Percent...

Alright, I can't keep bullshitting. Who the hell is Gabe Logan? Nobody, and he's going to stay that way.

Crash Bandicoot
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy (2017), Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (2016)

Before his recent remaster, Crash's last game was 2008's Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant. Did you know that? Did you remember that game? Did you know anyone who played it? Talked about it?

Crash was so dead until recently. This write-up would have been way easier if it weren't for the remaster and the wank-fest that is Uncharted 4.

All of a sudden people are seeing Crash as less of a cringey part of their childhood and the 90s as a whole and more of a treasured memory, just like Sonic. There was once a time where Crash games would have people stop what they were doing at E3 to watch the 90 second trailer on loop for almost an entire hour.

Crash is actually a great game with gameplay and graphics created to work within the PS1's limitations and show (trick?) people that the PS1 was lightyears ahead of the N64. It was Naughty Dog's first big release and they do not want you to forget about it, even though they sold the franchise off at one point.

Crash is back! How would he do in a contest today? Well he'd certainly be able to beat Elizabeth, who he just barely lost to in 2013. Beyond that? No idea! Crash is kind of popular on this site:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/6269
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/6729

Crash lost to Golden Sun in one of those polls, but I would take Crash over Isaac, especially now that he's getting some love again. It might still be close, though.

Side note: Isaac is one of few characters removed as an Assist Trophy between Brawl and Smash 4. Ouch. I guess we'll get to Isaac soon...
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Sephiroth
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Dissidia Final Fantasy NT (2018)

When I was in high school I took a cooking class my senior year because I was super mentally checked out. I used to hang out with my good friend Josh, and we would read comics and talk about video games. In our cooking group we had this junior named Vinny. Dude was jacked and already had tribal tattoos. Spiky hair, orange skin, typical New Jersey guido.

He always thought Josh and I were huge nerds, but one day, near the end of the semester, he interrupted a conversation I was having with Josh about the best villains, to proudly proclaim:

"The best villains of all time... Are Venom, Carnage, and Sephiroth."

To this day I remember that feeling of shock. This is the power that Sephiroth commands. Even Guidos cannot be spared from the might of Sephiroth's long sword.

Remember when CJayC made a contest just for Sephiroth to win so that he could make an excuse to remove him from the real contest later that year?

Are we still at that level of Sephiroth dominance? Well, if you look at my Cloud write-up, you can probably guess that no, Sephiroth is not as ubiquitous and powerful as he once was. He's still got his appearances in Kingdom Hearts and Dissidia to keep him going but that's not exactly "new" content, and as we know, fanbases die if they aren't being consistently fed.

In 2013 Sephiroth got pretty roughed up by Mewtwo, but if you remove Draven from the equation, how does Sephiroth do then? The LoL rallies were bringing in tons of randos, and some of them could potentially have voted Mewtwo based on Pokemon brand loyalty.

It's hard to say where Sephiroth has gone since then. Clinkeroth was once seen as an unstoppable force. I would say Sephiroth could still have an easy path to the Semis no matter what his placement is, but assuming he isn't up against Link or Cloud, could he potentially get past Mario? Samus? Any other member of the Noble Nine? Could he beat Mewtwo in 2018?

I hate saying this, but I think Sephiroth's time in the sun is over. He'll always be an elite but no longer is he a god.

...

I'm going out for a bit, it's my housemate's birthday and I forgot to get him something. I would rather spend the day writing about video game character popularity contests. I am a bad person and I should be punished. Please tell nanis23 to say bad things about me while I'm gone.
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Ms. Pac-Man
Last Contest: 2002
Last Game: Pac-Man Museum (2014), Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 (2007)

oh man I didn't realize how irrelevant Ms. Pac-Man had become in the past decade and a half. Her last solo appearance was the timeless 2001 classic "Ms. Pac-Man: Quest for the Golden Maze" which is a game I know we are all intimately familiar with and are definitely not finding out exists just now no sir

people like to make out Ms. Pac-Man as some kind of weird sex symbol or feminist icon but she is literally Pac-Man with a bow and some lipstick. What is so empowering about that? Is it that she has a "Ms." in her name and not a "Mrs."? I'm pretty sure the marketing team did that just to create buzz, not be progressive.

yeah nobody ever gave a shit about Ms. Pac-Man, she couldn't break 8% on Mega Man in her one and only contest appearance and I think it's safe to say she'd be even weaker today if that's possible

also just as a fun fact I enjoy reminding people that there was in fact a Pac-Man knock-off of Mario Party and Heihachi and Astaroth from SoulCalibur II was playable in it for some reason, thus making Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Man himself the least memorable parts of their own game:



Serious Sam
Last Contest: 2002
Last Game: Serious Sam's Bogus Detour (2017), Serious Sam 3: BFE (2011)

Did you know that just 9 days ago a teaser trailer for Serious Sam 4 dropped?

No?

OK, well, I don't blame you. I saw it the day it came out and it made so little impact on me that I actually forgot I had watched it until just now when I Googled Serious Sam, saw the trailer, clicked on it, watched it a second time, and didn't remember that I had already watched it until I had typed out a paragraph about how bland it looked.

Can anyone explain to me the point of Serious Sam? One of the appealing bits of Duke Nukem is that he finds other FPS characters dead and makes fun of them. Serious Sam does the same exact thing with the only difference is that it's a different buff white dude instead.

Apparently the Sam fanbase is pretty excited for this new game, though. All 12 of them.

It's being released by Devolver Digital, who actually is a pretty good publisher, so maybe if the game is good, cheap, on all consoles, properly hyped, well received, written in a way that Sam comes off as an actual character, and released during the nomination period, Sam might be able to get a 16 seed and get stomped again like he did in 2002.

Mr. Driller
Last Contest: 2002
Last Game: Famista Dream Match (2014), Namco High (2013), Pac-Man Kart Rally (2011)

i just shit all over Serious Sam, but imagine being the character that lost to serious sam

imagine that character being unlikable in every way possible

imagine that character being in a forgotten franchise

imagine that character not being the star of his own game or relevant in any way since 2009

do you have a picture in your head?

i bet it looks like "Susumu Hori"

which I am just finding out is Mr. Driller's real name

what the fuck

yeah Mr. Driller ain't getting into another one of these. 2002 was a weird year. the 16 seeds this contest should be made up exclusively of garbage 2002 entrants just to see how they've aged.

(answer: not gracefully)
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Mega Man
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 (2017), Super Mario Maker (2015), Mega Man Legacy Collection (2015)

It's been 8 years since the last proper Mega Man game (Mega Man 10), and since then he's really just had some glorified cameos, bit roles, crossovers and fan games to keep him relevant.

And that's just sad. Remember this?



"Any gamer that knows games knows Mega Man."

Do kids still like Mega Man? I know that's not the main traffic on this site but it's a pertinent question for the future. Mario and Link still have mass appeal to all ages, and the other day I saw some kid playing a Sonic game on his iPad and having a good time.

But does Mega Man get marketed enough for kids to care? Those Battle Network games are a distant memory now. Kids seem to like Five Nights at Freddy's more than they do Mega Man nowadays.

That's not really the focus here, though. How is Mega Man in these contests? Well, Mega Man 11 got announced recently, and a lot of people seem happy with how it looks, although I saw a few folks foaming at the mouth and convulsing because Capcom dared to take away their coveted retro 8-bit art style, because Mega Man can't possibly be good if it's not 8-bit, even if the gameplay, enemy and level design are all solid.

If Mighty No. 9 shows us anything, it's that people want Mega Man. They need Mega Man. He's probably fallen quite a bit since 2013 where he ended up losing to Samus and beating Red in a match that, as I mentioned before, was an absolute mess of SFF and LFF, and was really hard to properly predict or even properly analyze.

It's not like people on this site forgot about Mega Man, it's just that their passion for the Blue Bomber might not be burning as brightly. It definitely was when he debuted in Smash 4, but that came and went almost four years ago now. Smash 5 might help if the timing is right, but unless Bacon delays the contest 'til the Fall or Winter it will be too late. Regardless, he'll probably do fine. We're in the middle of some kind of retro fever and Mega Man gets to be a part of it.

Never forget:



(I still get chills)


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CATS
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Zero Wing (Arcade)(1989), Zero Wing (TurboGrafx 16)(1992)

I can't believe part of my research for this project now includes having to stop at KnowYourMeme to look up "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" in 2018

"With the 2017 release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, pedestals that give Link magic runes or map information in his Sheikah Slate showed letters of the Sheikah Alphabet, a mythical language in The Legend of Zelda series. Some of the text reads: 'All Your Base Are.'"

a meme that will never die

Or in the context of these contests, never live. CATS is still the biggest loser, he's been in almost every contest (2010 he made the vote-ins but was last place) but he's never come close to winning. In 2013 he failed to break 10k votes. Is it over for CATS?

As long as Board 8 is around it's not! But... Is Board 8 around? It's still a surprisingly active community, and you have people who come and go even during a contest drought just to check in to see who is still here and if there's any news on a new contest. I myself haven't been around for almost three years. I'd taken to lurking. It's almost like we go into a state of hibernation with reduced activity.

The fact that this board is still together and active with a good community and little-to-no drama is astounding to me. Once the noms go up for the new contest, I expect some of the Board 8ers that time forgot will be back, and they'll be willing to nominate CATS because "why not?"

Although on the other hand, it's been five years since the last character battle, and so many new characters have been introduced and so many old characters have been reinvented or revitalized that there may not be enough room on everyone's ballot for a CATS nom.

Is it time to let CATS rest? That's like saying we finally should shut down the board. CATS the meme will never get a chance in these contests despite being a classic, but in the same light, Board 8 will never been seen as one of the internet's greatest gaming communities, despite how knowledgeable and amicable (mostly) everybody is. Even during my absence I still thought about Board 8 and the many years of happiness it brought me, and here I am, back and still writing about these contests.

I think we'll be seeing CATS again in CBX, and he's going to get blown out in round 1 just like old times. I wouldn't want it any other way.
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Ryu
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (2018), Street Fighter IV Championship Edition (2017), Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite (2017), Street Fighter V (2016)

Can you believe Ryu was just a 15 seed in 2013? Since then he's become an honorary Nintendo character with his own amiibo! That's enough for me to confidently say "yes, Ryu will be stronger this year."

Ryu performed respectably against X in 2013 while they both got shit on by Draven. It's arguable if Mega Man SFF's Ryu; they're both in MvC games and are both Capcom icons and X even throws Hadokens from time-to-time, but they're both more in the pantheon of "video game icons" than just "Capcom icons."

That's good and bad for Ryu. People actually do love him past just being a figurehead. If you didn't know, GameFAQs is host to a huge lore guide for Street Fighter that gets referenced all the time by the FGC in terms of who is stronger in canon and the history of the universe. The guide is absolutely massive and highlights how much the SF fanbase love the universe and not just the gameplay.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps3/722788-ultra-street-fighter-iv/faqs/69921

Don't forget that Ryu managed to beat Dante back in the day! And Leon Kennedy! It's been 8 years since then but keep in mind that 2010 was not near any major releases for Ryu; it was a year before MvC3 and two years after Street Fighter IV and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.

I mentioned before that Ryu had Smash 4 under his belt, but recently he had two huge stinkers in the forms of MvCI and SFV. Nobody touched MvCI but people still bring it up all the time to remind you that it sucked and nobody bought it, but Ryu usually doesn't get mentioned as the focus is more on the lack of the X-Men. SFV is still widely played because it's Street Fighter, and apparently the latest release fixed a lot of problems and added better characters, but people were really sour on it in the beginning.

Still, I think that all those appearances more help than hurt Ryu by keeping him relevant. He's one of those infallible icons with such a simple but appealing designs that I think he could have maybe been a Noble Niner if GameFAQs cared more about fighting games. There's a reason that every fighting game has a Shoto-clone.

People seem to just discredit Ryu because he's from a fighting game and has inconsistent levels of strength (he lost to Bowser then beat him the year after), but he'll definitely be one to watch depending on his bracket placement this year.

...

alright my girlfriend is making me fold laundry i'll brb

do not date 3D
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Samus
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Metroid: Samus Returns (2017), Metroid Prime: Federation Force (2016)

It's been 8 years since the disaster we call "Other M." Samus has had some Smash games and some bad spinoffs since then, but what really shows how much people love her is that Nintendo slapped a "Samus Returns" in the title of her new game. Either that or they want people to stop calling her "Metroid."

Are there any other examples of that? Media where the character's name becomes the title. You've got First Blood becoming Rambo: First Blood Part II and you've got the Tomb Raider movies being called Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Am I missing anything else obvious?

Back on subject: Samus is Samus, even in 2010 when she was hot off the heels of Other M, people still loved her unconditionally. It wasn't Sonic 06 or anything, Samus was still cool, and she was sure to have a proper game and a return to form eventually, right?

Right?

Well it didn't matter much as in 2013 she managed to comfortably beat out Mega Man and Red in a match that I'm sure was caked in a dozen levels of SFF and LFF that we can't begin to break down, and she made a showing out of absolutely demolishing Tifa and L-Block. She didn't do great against Snake or Draven but that's probably because so much weight was being thrown behind Snake just to give him a shot at stopping the LoL machine.

So where does Samus go from here? It doesn't seem like absence did any damage to her, if anything, her fanbase has become so outspoken and vocal about her absence that they've basically deified her.

Whenever something like Federation Force was released, Nintendo would be the villains and Samus would be the innocent victim. Which... is true, because Samus is not a real person and doesn't make her own games (although the same logic does not seem to apply to Sonic. Do people think Sonic is on SEGA's board and decides to make his own games shitty? Is Alex Kidd on the same board and tells people that nobody wants an Alex Kidd game? What reality do we live in?).

We've finally got Metroid Prime 4 and we got a 3DS remake that people wouldn't shut up about for like two weeks straight so "absence" is no longer an issue. We also have another Smash to look forward to, and if more footage gets shown at E3 it'll probably give her an additional boost.

It's safe to say Samus will be a huge threat in this upcoming contest. Let's hope Bacon puts her on a path where she gets to meet either Snake or Cloud again.

Ken Masters
Last Contest: 2010
Last Game: Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (2018), Street Fighter IV Championship Edition (2017), Street Fighter V (2016)

Ken has one major problem: He's not Ryu. Maybe in canon he's arguably stronger than Ryu but he's still the 2nd player character. He's "Red Ryu" to a lot of people. Ryu is just cooler and he gets to be in the center of the covers.

Street Fighter V was not well received by the FGC and Ken got a really polarizing makeover in it, so he's probably at the same strength or worse than he was in 2010 when he barely beat Wesker and got punked by the Dorf. I don't know if nostalgia would give him a boost because he's not Ryu.

Ken has potential to be good bracket filler but he didn't even make it into 2013, which says a lot about his fanbase. There's just so many better options in the SF roster. Ken is no Luigi.
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hi it's me ZenOfThunder, and after 15 minutes of trying to get my computer to stop freezing i'm back

back to make people argue about Crono's relevance in 2018 (hint: there is none. 0 relevance.)

haha i kid, Crono has at least 1 relevance, maybe even 1.5!

shoutouts to Preston for making me a big list of characters I still need to go through! Can't wait until a year from now when I get to Reyn!

Tidus
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Dissidia Final Fantasy NT (2018)

I don't know if anybody remembers but when I first stopped lurking on this board and started posting I was like the A#1 Tidus hater, I thought he was a big dumb baby, but as it turns out, I was the big dumb baby

Tidus isn't the best character ever but he certainly has more going for him than Lightning. I believe people stopped calling him Meg Ryan around 2010, which ironically is the time he lost to Sub-Zero in R1. 2013 was also not kind to Tidus, he had the chance to stop Missingno in the first round and fell just a few votes short... Just as he did to Weighted Companion Cube in 2008. It says a lot that people vote glitches and boxes over Tidus.

So where does that place Tidus now? It's hard to say, the guy is the main character of one of the most beloved Final Fantasy games, but he's still... Tidus. There are people who like him, people who used to hate him and now just tolerate him, and a small but vocal minority that will take every opportunity to link you to some fresh hot new remix of the laugh scene.

speaking of which have you seen this HILARIOUS mashup of Big Bang Theory and Tidus' laugh?!?!?!

I think Tidus has fallen about as far as he can fall, he's always going to be a FF main character and even if he's not well liked he'll always carry a good amount of strength, but he'll never be able to do damage like Auron or to some extent Yuna and even Jecht. Being the main character can only get you so far. If Tidus ever drops to the fodder level I'd be surprised.

Claire Redfield
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Resident Evil Revelations 2/Collection (2015/17)

Revelations 2 got quite a good amount of buzz when it came out, and it's seen as part of the resurgence of interest and return to form of the Resident Evil franchise.

But what does that mean for Claire? She's always been on the border of what I'd consider "contest viable Resident Evil characters." She got into 2002 because someone on CE or CJayC liked her, in 2006 she only got in because "girl," and in 2013 she got in because she had a fanbase large enough to net her a 24 seed (which isn't much of an accomplishment)

That talk surrounding Revelations 2 shifted very quickly to RE7, to the point that if I had to bet whether Jack Baker or Claire would get into the next Character Battle, I might actually pick Jack. People were rallying to see Jack in Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, not Claire unfortunately. Her fanbase isn't as massive or undying as Leon's or even Chris (bleh). Other than Revelations 2 she really hasn't had any major appearances, from Code Veronica to Rev2 she was only in games like Mercenaries and... Operation Raccoon City. Hard to stay relevant with nothing but bit parts.

Resident Evil has some great and iconic characters, it's a shame Nemesis barely gets a fair shot in these things. Claire is great in the games but just not viable in these contests. She might be a little stronger due to Revelations 2, but it's been a while since that came out. I doubt she'll be back any time soon.
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whoa thank you preston, you are a hero

i had a busy few days at work and also took some time to see infinity war, i was going to write a bit today

thank you all for humoring me as a fumble through long-forgotten parts of my memory
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welp see you guys in 2028
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Samus/Snake was boring, everyone knew Samus would win, even the people who thought Snake would win. The match started, Samus took off, then the morning vote came, and Samus took off even more.

On the other hand you have a highly debated match that ended in a 27 vote gap. Why wouldn't you vote for this?? It was one of the greats! I still remember new topics being made on this board every time there was an update. You don't get a lot of matches like that.
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Pitfall Harry
Last Contest: 2002
Last Game: Pitfall! for iOS (2012), Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012)

i guess pitfall harry had a big push for relevance in 2012

that doesn't help much

does anyone remember Pitfall? Harry wouldn't be able to break 10% on Link now, I'm sure of it
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Sonic
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Sonic Mania, Sonic Forces (2017)

I don't know how to give a write up of Sonic, he is, to me, the ultimate Wildcard in the Noble Nine.

All the others seem to have consistent strength, and in the case of Crono, consistently falling strength. Sonic goes from respectable to potentially being the one who could (would) break the Noble Nine consistently.

Why is that? Well, Sonic is part Mario and part Pac-Man. He represents an entire franchise, and to a larger extent an entire brand. If you were on the wrong side of the OG Console Wars, you probably will vote Sonic because it's a blood oath. He's known by EVERYBODY, I think I remember reading at one point in the 90s he was more recognizable worldwide than Mickey Mouse?? How do you even gauge something like that?

But Sonic also gets his fair share of hate, and that also comes and goes in waves. Sonic 06 is a long distant memory, but the Sonic Twitter account and SEGA of America in general seems to have embraced the general meme-itude of the franchise now, and with the general culture of "irony" that has ensnared the innocent youths of modern gaming culture, it is now COOL to like Sonic, but ironically. Or something?

I have no idea what the state of Sonic is in 2018, and I read the comics and play all the games and even defend Forces to some extent. I think he'll be one to watch in the upcoming contest, because he's either going to be stronger than ever or he's going to bomb hard. It all depends on placement.

Who knows what the combination of Mania, his now highest selling game in 15 years, plus Sonic Mania Plus coming out around contest season, plus Forces bombing, plus getting a freaking live action Sonic movie in the Year of Our Lord 2018, plus most likely re-surfacing in Smash 5, plus being the face of a franchise that is basically second to Spongebob in the Meme Pantheon, will add up to? In the end you have a character who 'til this day is STILL unpredictable and probably always will be.
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Look at this great graph KP posted in another topic:



wow

Link Chmofsky, the High King of Gamefaqs

swirIdude posted...

ZenOfThunder posted...

Strider is more a representative of Marvel vs. Capcom at this point, I can't even remember what his actual game is called.

The name is contained in the sentence quoted above.

The 2014 game was pretty good, actually.

i completely forgot this existed, i remember it was super cheap and/or free at one point but honestly 3 years is a long time for a game as minor as this and it probably wouldn't help him much
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Link
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)

if you told me in 2013 that Link was going to somehow get exponentially stronger and potentially untouchable in 2017 i would not believe you

but then

breath of the wild

shit

people who were sick of Zelda are now SO ON BOARD. people who weren't into zelda are now SO ON BOARD. bring in the new kids, nintendo. give them that survival shit they want but make it approachable to the old school.

then make a cool system to put it on and just

destroy these contests with your pretty elf boy and his spiffy new blue shirt

can a rally take down Link at this point? well, probably, but it might be a bit harder. we'll see this year I guess

Little Mac
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (2014), Super Mario Maker (2015)

Little Mac got punked by Link in his first appearance, dunked on by Dante, and, uh, gunked on by Midna.

But since then he's been in a Smash game! And we know that being in a Smash game gets you like two whole additional votes per contest!

Yeah I don't think Little Mac is going to ever make waves in a contest setting, he's got his fans but they don't seem to be numerous. He'll definitely do better and post-Smash 5 he'll be even stronger but the upcoming contest won't really line up with that.
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Strider
Last Contest: 2002
Last Game: Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite (2017)

Strider is NOT from a comic! It was a promotional manga that was like 5 pages! It was all a misconception!

Unfortunately CJayC didn't see it that way and barred Strider from future contests. I asked Bacon during the 2013 nomination period if Strider was eligible again and he was kind of enough to confirm to me that yes, Strider is a very real video game character.

But it was too late, and nobody seemed to care anymore. In a field with like a billion characters, Strider STILL couldn't get enough noms to make the field. 2013 was his chance and he blew it.

Strider is more a representative of Marvel vs. Capcom at this point, I can't even remember what his actual game is called. MvC, SF and MK are the only fighting games people seem to universally care about on this site, so Strider could potentially carry some strength. He did get a whole 24% on Link once!

But you know who else would be a good MvC rep? Mega Man! Dante! Morrigan! All those characters who get strength from MvC AND their own franchises!

you know what though

strider looks

cool as hell

and he probably wouldn't be a terrible addition to a bracket just to see what he could do (which is probably not much)

Raziel
Last Contest: 2003
Last Game: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (2010), Legacy of Kain: Defiance (2003)

Raziel lost to Strider but got back into the field in 2003 for some reason.

He got destroyed by Sephiroth and hasn't had a game since then (other than a skin in a small Tomb Raider game)

you know what though

raziel looks

cool as hell

and he probably would be a bad addition to a bracket because his time is up now.

also if you didnt hear about it someone unearthed some code and cutscenes for a cancelled Legacy of Kain game, ch-ch-ch-check it:


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