Mario vs Link
Today's Bronze Medal Match is going right down to the wire (check it out SB, you took our advice on something and it turned out amazing! maybe there's a lesson to be learned here...), which means Link is projected to score only 53% or so tonight. UPSET CITY?! Unfortunately, no, for a couple of reasons. To start, does anyone REALLY think Mario hangs almost 56% on Cloud 1v1, as today's result indicates? I sure don't! A never-in-doubt-but-always-respectable win in the 52-53 range seems more likely, which means Mario took advantage of good ol' Nintendo hierarchy to get past Pokemon so easily last round.
The bad news is of course that the hierarchy has flipped for this poll- Zelda > Mario's been a Golden Rule of GameFAQs since 2002, and last year's 65% pounding certainly didn't do anything to change our minds. Mario figures to hold up much better in this one; he's performed well above his 2010 standard all bracket long, Bowser makes him the more iconic/classic rivalry, and he managed a slight pic advantage for this poll (something you rarely see versus Zelda). There will still be some Nintendo SFF tonight, but it shouldn't be anywhere near as brutal as we've seen between these two series in the past.
So if the stats say 53 and there won't be any killer SFF, we're still in that "wacky end of bracket result!" range where a straight out upset is possible, right? It's hard to say no, considering two characters with an average strength of Samus/Snake are currently being knocked out by two characters with an average strength of Ocelot/Duke Nukem! But ehhhhh, putting your money on non-Link has been a bad bet all season, so I'll go with the Zelda fanbase creating just enough SFF to move this to a Cloud-like final percentage.
PS - Don't get overly excited by Mario's strong start. The Board is itching for an upset and the first few hours figure to be his best time regardless... Europe will chop down his percentage overnight before the Link-crazy American day vote bleeds him to the low 40s (or slightly below).
Link - 58.91%
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thengamer.com/guru thengamer.com/xstats board8.wikia.com
I'd search B8 for The Show if I were you. *wink wink*