Lurker > ZenOfThunder

when the holidays are finally over!

--
~Zen

bump

--
~Zen

I bought a 500 gig HD and I haven't deleted a thing since

it's a blessing

worth every penny

--
~Zen

morning guys!

--
~Zen

I KNOW BUT IT BUGS ME. It's the first thing I thought of when I saw the logo dammit! THE CONNECTION MUST EXIST

also, as contrast, here's how nice a 720p game looks when I screencap it:



mmmm that's some good nolan north

--
~Zen

also





these two logos are too similar in my warped perception of the world

it bugs me

BUGS ME

--
~Zen

yes I am trying to hate it

through my hated I will find solace in the worst christmas present I have ever received

--
~Zen

menji thank you for saving me from dying all the time today

--
~Zen

I can't believe the game starts out like this! Peace, love, hugs and rainbows? I wish they elaborated more on how the hell CYCLOPS, King of the Douche Island, has furthered Mutant/Human relationships more than Xavier ever did



also, nightcrawler is there. he's popular, right? let's cut to him.



Cyclops talks about what an honor it is to have come this far since he first immigrated from Douche Island. Also it looks like he's putting his teeth together and blowing air out to make a creepy wet hissing sound.





Ladies and gents, our heroes! Well, one of them. It's assumed the other two die. Sucks for them, I guess. I love playing God! Who gets to keep their life today?



X-MEN DESTINY. THE WORST OPENING SINCE WAND OF GAMELON.

I have high res version of all of the above pics if anybody needs them. More tomorrow! have a good night, thanks for reading, etc

--
~Zen

I'm gonna start using Imageshack cuz it downscales the huge ass pictures. I didn't realize that the game runs at goddamn 1920x1080. Do you believe that? 1080p. This piece of garbage is so low-grade in the graphics department that they can pull off full 1080p resolution. They should have put it at 720p to create the illusion that it actually needed the processing power in other places.



So we start with an install! I can't believe a game this ugly with such little depth took like 20 minutes to install:




MARVEL PRESENTS



A SILICON KNIGHTS GAME. I wonder if Psycho Mantis knows about this one, too?



blah blah blah did you guys know that silicon knights doesn't actually own x-men? whooooa



and on GNN news, we find out that the newly discovered "PNA" may be the source of all the recent changes in acronyms. LMDO!



"yeah, I dunno, I woke up and this lady's face and this third arm were growing out of my head"



Ladies and gentlemen, the face of evil. We'll be seeing them in literally EVERY FIGHT for the first few hours because I guess they all decided to be white people with the same build, same voice, and same haircut. Also they all have each other's numbers so they can coordinate their outfits.



our story begins with Bastard, some alien cyborg from the future (this is X-Men so everything has to be from the future), giving Professor X a huge ice cream headache using some weird photoshop effects



so Magneto gets upset that Bastard kills his best buddy, and uses his soapy bubble power to cleanse Bastard from this time period. Then he dies. I guess. They said he dies but he's on the cover of the game so you know he didn't.



unfortunately, Professor X had the only key to the front door of his mansion, so now the X-Men have to look for somewhere else to live



this guy is another key player. I assume this only because he gets a nice watercolor painting in the opening, too. I'm calling him Kirby, because I can't remember what his real name is. Kirby really loves mutants for an unexplained reason, and somehow convinces California to let them stay. This is kinda like the comics I guess; I think it's some kinda commentary on gay people?



forced homage to Days of Future Past. It's like the devs were saying "hey look we read comics too! please accept us" but then you realize this is the #1 most parody-able thing about X-Men from one of the most iconic covers and that it's even in an UMvC3 stage, and you kind of lose your nerd cred.



occupy wall street joke



left to right: Emma Frost, Cyclops, Kirby and generic white governor that will never be seen again. Why not make him black? Or Arnold Schwarzenegger.

--
~Zen

KP was kind enough to IM me and point out this charming face in the background




so you guys can now pick a mutation! this is really stupid because like

japanese chick is obviously the shadow knives
evil hispanic kid is obviously energy blaster
and dumb football guy is obviously the density control

so you guys can choose a power whether it be appropriate to Grant or really dumb or whatever, I don't care and I doubt the gameplay will be revolutionary regardless





--
~Zen

you guys can choose who I play as:





I originally chose the kawaii princess but it turns out that she sucks, which really shouldn't be surprising. but if you want me to continue as her you can say so, I didn't get far in at all because the game was so nauseating

--
~Zen

cyclops gives a speech, but thanks to a poor camera angle he just looks like a floating head wearing a big blue condom



one of the main characters shows up to watch and he decided to bring his football cuz he likes SPORTZ



apparently he's a goddamn idiot too because he somehow DOESN'T KNOW about the human/mutant conflict. What? What? How the hell do you live in the Marvel Universe and NOT KNOW ABOUT THE HUMAN/MUTANT CONFLICT.



then this guy walks in front of the camera and you realize how deep into the s*** you've gotten

and it's just the title screen

--
~Zen

From: MarvelousGerbil | #003
I liked WW but didn't like TP or SS <_<

this

motion controls no thnx

at least TP had a GameCube version, I don't think I'll ever get SS. I don't even wanna give it a chance, I'm sick of the motion stuff.

--
~Zen

Look at this garbage



it's so ugly. and those stupid big flash EXTREME NAMES that pop up every time someone is introduced.



AND LOOK BEHIND HER SHOULDER! SHE TURNS AROUND AND HER NAME IS STILL THERE. HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK? IS IT A TANGIBLE THING THAT POPS UP?

this game is so bad

--
~Zen

bump, i'll finish this someday

--
~Zen

night bump

--
~Zen

So did ugly MGS2 Snake!

--
~Zen

wow mega man made it this far? what the hell. what did he do in 2003? apparently he just had a big blurry head with a lot of anti-aliasing! Did Sephiroth not have 2D KH art back then? I know he does now!

Overall: 4/10



Didn't need the names. At all. Or the big VS off to the side. Pretty cool though.

Overall: 8/10



Could Photoshop not shrink Alucard down back then? Like specifically Alucard. He's like a mess of scribbles. AND THE SAME SNAKE KNF:LvAKLJBVABFGS

Overall: Precursor to Ulti's Banner/10
Wind Waker Link Count: 7


CONTEST OVERALL: 5/10

took NO CHANCES AT ALL. Stock art on white backgrounds. Woooooo

--
~Zen

switching things up! Black backgrounds are TOUGH cuz they make it real obvious when you have a lot of anti-aliasing or are missing pieces thanks to a poor render. You should only use black backgrounds if you wanna test your renders or if you're using really good pre-renders or something. I assume Ceej was using his own renders because he always did seem to put some effort into these pics.

This was p good. I like that there's obvious tension but Link is just gonna get his cel shaded ass shot off. MELEEEEEEEE strikes again but I guess back then it was fresh and not overused yet. Brawl is too overused nowadays; that stock Snake pic was used like 10,000 times after it was released.

Also: No names! I hate how people think names are necessary at all past round 1. Once nobodies like Laharl are knocked out, characters shouldn't need their names in front of them so you know who they are. This is a gaming site; I know not everyone will know MacMillan or Vyse but that's why they get their asses knocked out right away. Round 2 Link does NOT need his poorly rendered name in front of him! It's just a hassle.

Overall: 8.5/10
Wind Waker Link Count: 4



Little bits of anti-aliasing here and there around Cloud's clothing, but you have to get close to see it. Sonic is pretty clean except for some white on the bottom left of his hair. Is that even hair? Is it fur? Sonic confuses me sometimes. Does he only have one eye?

Pics are just safe choices; I wish he used 2D vs 2D or 3D vs 3D. KH was brand new at this point, right? Makes me feel old.

Overall: 7/10



Pretty OK choices. Man, 2003 was a great year. Sephiroth beat Mario! SEPHIROTH. BEAT. MARIO. Think about that for a sec. It was standard fair after this for Clinkeroth to never be dominated, but now.... How far has FFVII fallen?

So a switch to white backgrounds. Did Ceej originally intend for two black and two white? I personally think that Sepiroth wasn't pre-rendered as the art was too new and the internet really didn't have good renders back then and he didn't wanna go through the trouble of rendering the wings. Or Sephiroth is too black and would blend in? Either way he should have had some damn foresight!

Overall: 7.5/10



HOLY GAWD JEEZ it's the SAME SNAKE FOR THE FOURTH ROUND IN A ROW. Oh my gawd.

Overall: 3/10 just because the VERY IDEA OFFENDS ME. How does an icon have such a poor selection of art?!



ALL CEL SHADED ALL THE TIME. Can't even make out Cloud's background but it seems just like a super blown up version of his default art. Same ol' stuff from the previous rounds. Like the VS though. I'm not a fan of big blurry heads as a background.

Overall: 6/10
Wind Waker Link Count: 6. It takes 6 to take down Link! Let's try that next contest.

--
~Zen

bump will get to this tomorrow

--
~Zen

OH MY GOD

--
~Zen

yes but that also means there should be more than one piece of new art to use

--
~Zen

alright I might be going insane with this one. Zero's background is a slightly different color right? It only seems like that when I turn my head just so. So weird. WHY did Bacon do that? Did Zero just have that slightly weird white background? Also awful sonic render

Overall: 3.5/10



I like the contrast. Why are all the fonts so awful?!

Overall: 7/10



Why is Kefka so pink sometimes? Isn't he like a clown with white skin or something. Also the two are totally NOT looking at each other! And Crono has to have more art than that come oooon

Overall: 6/10



More good contrast! Good fonts but awful Kirby render.

Overall: 6.5/10



LOOK AT THAT FACE. THAT GODDAMN FLAT FACE. Tommy V got a pic like that when he fought Crono one year and I remember NOBODY pointed out how goddam flat it was. Do people just accept Max Payne for the two dimensional character that he is?!?!

Overall: 5/10



Gangsta Knuckles! I love that one because of how obviously "cool 90s black kid" he is. Also Snake doesn't have more art than that? Wasn't MGS2 pretty fresh at this point



is ryu pooping

Overall: 6/10

Why is DK so braindead? Also FLAT VERCETTI. Not as bad as Max Payne but why does nobody have a problem with that?!

Overall: 4/10



Zelda is so blurry and Mega Man has roid rage. I love this one just because there seems to be some goddamn conflict in it! Even if it's just Mega Man blowing Zelda's head off.

Overall: 8.5/10



THE SPRITE ROUND COMETH. Why not LttP Link? Magus looks so much cooler as a sprite. Also ugly cranky piccolo magus in the background. AND ANOTHER WIND WAKER LINK! You may not have noticed it... but your brain did.

Overall: 7.5/10
Wind Waker Link Count: 3



OH LAWD. SO MUCH ANTI-ALIASING IN THE BACKGROUND! That would be passable I guess if Squall didn't have the sloppiest sprite render I've ever seen! Sometimes you gotta buckle down and LASSO!

Overall: 3/10



THAT is a good sprite pic! Suffers from recycled SMRPG art in the back tho

Overall: 8/10



I guess FFVII has better sprites than FFVIII! Pretty good pic.

Overall: 9/10



SCREW THE LIGHTNING BOLT PIC! MARIO AND CRONO CASUALLY WALKING TO EACH OTHER > EPIC STARE DOWN

Overall: 8/10



so smexy *drools* too bad I can't make out Alucard in the back

Overall: 9/10



the same snake art for three rounds in a row. what gives?! also solid s***. Ryu looks OK. red slippers

Overall: 5.5/10



Tommy gets the worst render of the sprite round! How do you leave all that white in?! and SO FLAT. Mega Man is Mega Man.

Overall: 2/10

--
~Zen

From: Surskit | #068
oh hey thanks :D

Besides entering Banjo pics obsessively for the past contests and never getting them accepted, it's the first year I actually ventured out of the Banjo territory. I'm of the opinion that my best pic didn't get accepted ), but it might be the Peach syndrome (I'm biased since editing Zero's art to look similar to X's art style was very time-consuming).

but yeah I appreciate it!

Peach is the center of attention there. Nice idea but I think she can't "pop" as much as she does.



FINALLY SOME REAL GODDAMN PICS. Ceej didn't bother with basic gradients still? Eh whatever I like white. More WIND WAKER LINK but at least he looks kinda cool, and Fox looks like... Gamecube.

Overall: 7.5/10
Wind Waker Link Count: 2



Ganondorf looks kinda like he's eyeing up Magus, who is like a hot skater boy who wears clothes that are too tight and is skating past Ganondorf while sucking on a lollipop.

Yup.

Overall: 8/10



"hey I'm Ceej and I don't know what a brightness/contrast adjustment layer is." Luigi is shocked. Also the L on his hat is part of his name and Squall's font is ugly. I don't think Ceej knew how to install fonts yet or that he shouldn't use ugly brown on ugly brown.

Overall: 4.5/10



Samus is looking at KOS-MOS's boobs. Either that or her incredibly blendy font.

Overall: 5/10



SWING YOUR SWORD OVER YOUR SHOULDER AND YOU'LL INSTANTLY BE THE COOLEST KID ON THE BLOCK, WHETHER YOU'RE ART OR CG AND HAVE YOUR NAME IN CHEESY FONT GLOWING OVER YOUR HEAD

Overall: 6.5/10



eh

Overall: 5/10



awful master chief render. what gun is he holding? what is going on? recycled Aeris artwork

Overall: 3/10

--
~Zen

KNUCKLES IS HUUUUGE

Overall: yuna looks like she should be holding something/10



is that really the only full body Nukem shot? I know where it's from and without the thing he's supposed to be leaning his leg on then it looks a bit dumb. also ryu looks girly like ken, a complete contrast to the MAN that is nukem

Overall: 6/10



Not much to say. Ryo is always like "just standing there." He's not the most visually striking character, is he? I hope Shenmue III gives us a lot of cool art and he actually gets in. Dante thinks he's so goddamn cool.

Overall: 6/10 (this is the worst idea i've ever had)



my eye is throbbing from how uncreative these art pics are

Overall: 5/10



Tommy is also SO FLAT. I don't get why Rockstar guys have such flat heads. Kite looks very anime

Overall: 6.5/10



LOVE THIS. Complete contrast. Zelda looks offended by Lara's naval.

Overall: 9.5/10, about as good as it gets from this round/time



Resetti looks like he was cut out of a camcorder LP. Mega Man is jumping somewhere but not in Resetti's direction!

Overall: 4/10

--
~Zen

God, Sora always looks like ASS. I hate his design. Here he's even doing something stupid. He's ALWAYS stupid looking when he's CG. Stick to the promo art, people. Also blandest Aeris possible.

Overall: 5/10



This would be cool if Halo 1 Master Chief wasn't so goddamn awkward looking. He always has a weird posture where he looks kinda like a monkey. Felix has his basic art but I doubt there's much to choose from. I like all the green.

Overall: 7/10



oh my god Scorpion looks so pixelated. Zero too, but I don't remember ever seeing that art before. Is that CG Scorpion? Ouch. Not helpful. But yeah two badasses being SO COOL

Overall: 6.5/10



Why does Ken look so girly sometimes? Who did that girly art with the long hair? Nice Red vs Blue thing going, though. Poor Ken.

Overall: 6/10



MARIO vs ORIMA. I remember people thinking Olimar might have strength cuz he was super SFF'd here. lol nope. Also Bacon couldn't render a transparent helmet for crap but good job trying with the gradient.

Overall: 7.5/10



WHAT THE HELL IS THAT WARIO ART? Oh my god he looks AWFUL. So much Wario art. Use some of that crappy GameCube Wario art! Was that even out yet? Nobody talks about it. I remember having it but can't remember a single thing about the game.

Overall: 4/10



limiting sprites early on really kills Pac-Man. Not as much as all-full-body kills Kefka, though. Was this the first LETTUCE KEFKA appearance? Because it's goddamn beautiful.

Overall: 10/10

but in all seriousness like 1.5/10



Basic Crono art, but WHY NOOKWAY TOM? He's not the first and not the last. WHY? WHYYYYYY QUESTIONABLE DECISIONS

Overall: WHY NOOKWAY/10



Nice pic of Bomberman but Alucard is all squished. How did he not see the folly of all body pics? It looks SO UGLY. So much wasted space!!

Overall: 6/10



Kirby is super poorly rendered (add your own stroke if you're having a problem dammit) and Ramza isn't rendered AT ALL. Look at that faint peachish box around him! Ceej was so goddamn lazy.

Overall: 1/10



How does GORDON have full body art pre-HL2? Did you know that Gordon's original design was this?



much better imo

Also Max has this really FLAT face for some reason. You'll see it more next round I think?

Overall: 5/10



Raziel is a GODDAMN BADASS I haven't played his games but he always looks cool in these match pics. Let's get him back in! He's balancing on the tip of Sephiroth's generic art sword

Overall: 9/10



Overall: Ugly melty art/10

--
~Zen

From: Menji76 | #064
none of those captures should ever be used in a match pic.

Best of Rounds 5-6

The nominees:






Really not sure about any of these. This is my favorite, so it gets the award:



Could have been better, though! I feel like we really burnt out by the end. Nobody really cared about this contest by this point!

Runner up:




Worst of Rounds 5-6

The nominees:




We cared so little that not many were even bad! The winner is, without a doubt in my mind:



It REALLY pissed me off. Here's my writeup!

I, uh... I applaud the originality, I guess, but I also SPIT at the person who thinks they can get away with using that as Blue art. Couldn't be bothered to replace Pikachu with Eevee, huh? "A selective color layer will do!" I HATE this pic, not only for the audacity to use some Red art that wasn't that good in the first place TWICE, but to think that a character that has been portrayed as GARY OAK in every other match (AND in the game itself, god damn) could get a pic like THAT and consider it acceptable.

It's not artsy. It's not a good idea. It doesn't look that cool. AND the names are dull and blendy. How about you use a brighter color? Mario/Bowser is alright but they look pre-rendered. I'm thinking this person didn't even know how to use a goddamn render. You know what happens when you drag a PNG layer with transparency right into Photoshop without saving it? It gets a black background. This black background screams to me "look I didn't know what I was doing! I got two cool renders off of PlanetRenders but they had black backgrounds lol LET'S MAKE IT ALL BLACK." Also they're not even facing each other and Bowser is holding some weird white blob for some reason.

Overall: -5/10, I really hate this one. It hits all my sore spots and I hope not to see anything like it again.


Best New Picsmith: Surskit

Is he even new? Whatever! He gets the award. I like him.

Runner up: tyder21

--
~Zen

wow I guess having a capture card is a THING now

or we're all huge nerds

--
~Zen

I have been given the gift of a CAPTURE CARD



NO MORE STRAGGLING FOR RESOURCES



ZEN GETS HIS OWN SCREENSHOTS NOW



--
~Zen

christmas bump!

--
~Zen

Thanks KP!

Merry almost christmas everyone!

--
~Zen

Most Visually Impressive:



Alright, so you're thinking "ohhh it's just them all on a white background" but goddammit I'm not looking for 300 clipping masks and adjustment layers inside of adjustment layers and different filters all surrounding some deep hidden message about life, the universe and everything.

This is a goddamn good pic. This pic is like "hey, these guys are rivals" in the cleanest, simplest, most striking way you can get. The names are pretty cool too. When I scroll through all the pics this one sticks out and it's just great. Also standing back 2 back is SO KEWL

--
~Zen

Best of Rounds 3-4

The nominees:






So we were given free reign over pics starting at round 3, and people went kinda nuts. Board 8 tends to have this problem of using all the good ideas right away only to end up with the final rounds kinda bland, but I think the general lack of enthusiasm this year let us spread the creativity out juuuuuuust enough.

That being said, the winner is probably:



Yes! I love this pic. It has some technical issues; like coloring Ryu's font red when it's against Ken's red pants, and having black & white Red/Blue sprites against a black & white background. Technical issues aside, I love the "evolution," the division between the time periods, and how badass the Fighters look while they're doing the Hadoken super slowly. Love it love it love it. Congratz, Blue_Target. You also get a Piccy! Put it on your e-shelf. If I get the time I'm actually gonna make some kinda trophy or something and post it here.

Runner up:



Second runner up: Dracula's mustache



--
~Zen

but in all seriousness the hardest working picsmith is def Ulti

ertyu gets an award for best pic making affiliate that nobody appreciates

--
~Zen

From: greatone10 | #047
Fox was in 2K2. People thought Cloud would lose to him in the first round.

THIS IS WHY WE NEED ALL FICTIONAL CHARACTERS

James Bond vs Sephiroth

"oh Sephiroth got this"

James Bond 88%
Sephiroth 12%

--
~Zen

So I have no idea what Ceej did here (also I keep typing "Bacon" when I want to refer to Ceej so forgive me if I slip up and don't catch it) but I think he like made a 3D thing to act as a light? You can also make 3D! There's an drop down menu for it, but I wouldn't recommend it. You can literally turn a match pic (or all the banners) into a hat:



But it looks cheesy, cheap and any expert will know "oh that's the Photoshop hat." I wouldn't recommend using it but it's a quaint little feature you should try out to like impress your friends who don't know nothin bout photoshop. It's like 3D > Create New Shape from Layer. I think CS4 and up has this feature.

So YEAH another tangent there, but these are some basic pics, and while the flashlight effect is BAD I applaud the attempt because Ceej was probably using Photoshop 7 or CS1 or something like that and it wasn't all that simple to make shapes.

Overall: 8.5/10



I'm pretty sure that Crash is Malcolm from Malcolm in the Middle or maybe Ferris Bueller because he totally just saw KOS-MOS's boobs for the first time and stopped the action to turn to the audience to make some comment about how he'd like to "get his hands on her ample flux capacitors" or something like that. Pretty nice pic for Crash, and KOS-MOS needs more boobs because being a sexy kawaii animu robot waifu is half of KOS-MOS' appeal. Or all of it. But it's full body pics! You gotta work with what crappy full body art you get.

Overall: 8/10



MOST BASIC PICTURE OF ALL TIME.

OF. ALL. TIME.

Overall: The most basic picture of ALL TIME/10



Eggplant CATS! I genuinely miss this guy. It was great seeing the kiddies come and be like "who is cats" and someone would answer "a type of AIDS." Actually, that was me. My first post on this board was "who is cats I know everyone but him what game is her from google just gives me pictures of kittens" and someone said "a type of AIDS"

8ish years later and nothing has changed

Overall: AIDS/10



Another VERY BASIC match pic but with conflicting styles. BADASS AURON default art vs CUTE CUDDLY TAILS default art. I like the contrast.

Overall: 7.5/10 (god this is boring)



MELEEEEEEE

Overall: SUPER SMAAAAASH BROTHAAAAAAS/10



hey it's MORE MELEE ART fjrhgashvbasjzbhvjab I know the game was still fresh and people hadn't discovered wavedashing yet (?) and were actually using characters other than Fox and Marth (???) but good god Yoshi has WAY MORE ART. I hope we see better examples later on. Also, Conker. Looking awesome. It's a shame his game sold like crap.

Overall: 6.5/10


More later!

--
~Zen

ZEN TALKS ABOUT THE MATCH PICS: 2K3 EDITION

this is gonna be a weird bonus segment, as Ceej did all these pics. He's not here to see these comments so I can verbally assault him as much as the ToS allows!



Our first picture! This was the greatest contest of all time?! Look how bland the round 1 pics are!! Well, to be fair, Ceej used to LOVE full body shots for round 1, but as more and more newer FPS characters got in it got harder and harder to keep with tradition so full body became upped torso.

It's hard to rate these fairly as they're all the same exact crap, but I'll just comment on if the pic choices were good, the quality, how they match (he had FULL CONTROL so they should match to some extent, unless it's Marcus Fenix vs Ulala) and if he did a good job rendering.

This one is alright. I think Wind Waker Link matches PERFECTLY with Aiai. Also, Wind Waker Link basically owned this contest, so I'm gonna start the Wind Waker Link tally to see just how much CJayC wanted him to lose!

Overall: 8.5/10 (matching styles, clean, no dynamic)
WW Link Count: 1



The first appearance of Melee Fox?! Maybe. Fox wasn't in 2K2, right? So our first pic is the most basic possible one alriiiight good start I guess. He's a 3D model and Pikachu is 2D, which is OK as they're also the most basic pics you could ever choose ever. For srs. It'd be better if Pikachu was facing inwards. I'm not sure how valid it is but one of the basic design rules I learned way back when is that characters should never be jumping out of the picture. It would be cooler if he was jumping at Fox, I guess so that rule must work sometimes!

Overall: 7.5/10



Hey I'm Tidus and I'm a HURRRRR and this is Ganondorf and he's a DURRRR. They both look super washed out; There was no vibrance adjustment layer back then so I guess it was harder to deal with, but SRSLY they're just kinda standing there. Default OoT art vs... is that an action figure? Huh.

Overall: 6.5/10



You know what really must have sucked? Writing fanfiction for these contests. GODDAMN how could you write this seriously? Magus would SLAUGHTER Sam Fisher in a fight. I think Cloud and Squall and I really revolutionized the Fanfiction business on this board when we came up with the idea to have the characters not fight, but face physical and psychological challenges and overcome them before their opponents!

I don't know why I went off on this tangent but damn Sam Fisher looks like a big black gimp or something next to the dynamic and awesome Magus. I LOVE that Magus art, especially compared to that ugly ass "magus standing there and looking like a pale 200 year old piccolo" art with the huge codpiece.

Overall: 7ish/10



This is pretty awesome because Squall's gunblade is like blending in SO MUCH that it looks like he's just holding a revolver. Two PS1-y 3D models with GUNZ and one of them is in leather and one has a tubetop. SO BADASS.

Overall: BADASS GUNZ/10

But in all seriousness it was a big deal to blend in the gunblade like that. Half of Squall's appeal is that his gun is ALSO a sword!! Jill looks fine but this is really just a "default" kinda look for her, but it's round 1 and full body pics are limited, and Jill always looks pretty good when she isn't cosplaying as Zero Suit Samus.

Overall: 6.5/10

--
~Zen

WORST MATCH PICTURE OF ROUNDS 1-2:

The Nominees:





http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/rivals/rivals-48.

So many stock Ulti pics! I don't think the guy manages to dodge a bullet because he at least doesn't do something so goddamn offensive to the eye that the entire board is now blind as a result of witnessing it. Seriously, it's incredible that we've all adapted to the speech functions and braille keyboards so quickly. We gotta keep up with the stats, dammit!

That said, the winner is, without a doubt:



Holy HELL is the top of this pic a goddamn TRAIN WRECK. Luckily I'm blind, but the last thing I remember seeing is what appeared to be Link and Ganondorf in a cropped pic that was so dark you could barely tell who was who and if one of them was secretly Epona or something. Also it was skewed for no reason, the names were kinda ugly and it was just all around one of the worst pics ever made. Yo_D_oY, I'm not sure who you are but you deserve this reward. I google you and apparently you're a troll on a Fire Emblem board or something? I forgot, and now I'm too blind to care.

And Justin, your half wasn't AWFUL, but it was subpar enough to drag this one down behind our runner up, which is:



--
~Zen

Hardest Working Picsmith Award:

It's a bonus award, tailored to a certain Picsmith who showed exceptional confidence and tenacity when opposed by my harsh critiques and the general disdain of the board. He never gave up, coming up with pretty much 1/4 of all pics accepted (maybe more, I wouldn't be surprised) and showed us that he does indeed have the ability to learn, grow and accept constructive criticism.

And that user is ERTYU. Jesus, have you seen this guy's pics? Atrocious! But he's made more than ANY of us, and probably puts more work into them than we ever could.

Congrats, Ertyu. You've done the board proud.

--
~Zen

Wario & Daisy

wat

--
~Zen

It want nominated cuz like 50000 other ulti pics were nominated

--
~Zen

I liked the CT and SotN sprites! It would get a mention for best sprite pic if we didn't have that great Trainers/Fighters evolution pic

--
~Zen

YES ED BELLIS

THE BEST

--
~Zen

yes I am! But those were all like "ok"

I did actually really consider all these noms! I went through the gallery like 50 times today

--
~Zen

GANON you are so silly

--
~Zen