LogFAQs > #981414765

97. Castlevania vs. Halo (2006) R1

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7aed9c55.jpg

Castlevania 55.02% 61076
Halo 44.98% 49930
TOTAL VOTES 111006
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/(3)Castlevania_vs_(6)Halo_2006
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/2431-snake-division-round-1-castlevania-vs-halo

Are you prepared for the biggest vote shift/comeback youve ever seen? That was the main aspect being hyped going into this match. Halo was the king of the Day Vote at this point, and Castlevania, despite not having as much evidence, was considered an obvious choice for having one of the best Night Votes. The biggest comeback wed seen up to this point in contest history was in the neighborhood of 3,000 votes, but people were saying not to worry if Halo got behind early, because this match could see a 4,000 or even 5,000 vote one. Some of this was just people having fun, but on some level it was taken for granted that if Halo got very far behind it would be able to catch up.

Aside from the vote trends, this match was also considered a testing ground for how the average voter would view the Series Contest. On one side, you had Castlevania, a series whose roots stretched back to the NES era, and which consisted of a large number of games in a variety of styles and genres, but which was not considered a major presence in the contemporary gaming scene. On the other side you had Halo, a series which was very much at the peak of its popularity, even on anti-Xbox GameFAQS, but which only consisted of two games at this point, the bare minimum to be considered a series. In regards to the individual games popularity, SOTN might be able to compete with the more popular of the two Halo games, but overall the average popularity of the two Halo games was almost surely far ahead of the mean average of every Castlevania game. It was a genuinely open question going into 2006 how voters would weigh those various factors. Quantity vs. Quality. Legacy vs. Relevance. These were open questions, which this match would answer. Halo was a pretty strong favorite to win, even on the board, but there were doubters, and they would be proven right almost immediately.

The match started with, for perhaps the only time in contest history, an overperformance for Halo. Never underestimate the power of the Bracket Vote, especially in a match like this with no personal favorite of the board. There was a problem with said overperformance though. Halo was still narrowly losing. Castlevania was pulling off a huge upset and it was only going to get worse, as the early vote started wearing off, and the night vote kicked in. Castlevanias lead hit 4,000 just after 6 AM, and its overall percentage was pushing towards 56%, and most people still rooting for Halo threw in the towel. Still, wasnt this supposed to be the match with the biggest Day Vote wed ever seen? Wasnt there still an opportunity for a comeback, for Halo to do something crazy, even if it ultimately ended up just short? The answer it turned out, was absolutely not. There was no comeback, not even a brief one, and the Day Vote only managed to bring Castlevanias percentage down from 56% to 55%. Castlevania would walk away from this match not only having defeated a fearsome Day Vote, but having proved a certain theory of the case when it came to a series performance. History mattered, and GameFAQS voters werent going to just roll over for a two or three game series that was popular at the moment. If only Castlevania could find another neophyte series like that to go up against in the next round.