LogFAQs > #878673253

Round 1 – 2002 vs. 2010

Moltar’s Analysis

2002 doesn’t have any killers, but it does have a bunch of proven midcarders on GameFAQs with Metroid Prime, Kingdom Hearts, and Vice City. That’s more than I can say about 2010 on this site. Galaxy 2 definitely isn’t as strong as the original here, and ME2 hasn’t impressed either. In fact, all the big 2010 games here looked bad in the last contest.

The gap here doesn’t seem as big as some of the other strength discrepancies we’ve seen in super deep vs. nothing years, but I don’t see 2002 struggling here at all despite being a middle of the road year. Might as well adjust the percentage too since blowouts are the name of the game here.

Moltar’s Bracket: 2002

Moltar’s Prediction: 2002 - 75%



transience’s Analysis

I'm really fascinated (well, by this contest's standards) by 02's trajectory. 1991 is still a little old in the tooth and is really relying on nostalgia over pure game strength. It's like a superpowered 1987. 02, on the other hand, has legitimate games beyond Mario World. it's got Metroid Prime, and Metroid seemed to be overall stronger last contest. Kingdom Hearts is always legit, stronger than FF4. Vice City's okay. It's almost too bad that 02 got its best picture -- though I'd argue Morrowind is better than Warcraft 3 -- this early on in the contest. All those games look so good.

2010 has Mass Effect 2, RDR and Galaxy 2 which sounds fine on paper but all of those games bombed in the last game contest. 2002 probably goes big here.

transience's prediction: 2002 with 80.01%



Leonhart’s Analysis

2002 is an interesting year. It’s got a couple of strong upper midcarders in Metroid Prime and Kingdom Hearts, but I think they’re just shy of being in “elite” territory because they’ve fallen short in a couple of notable matches. Metroid Prime narrowly lost to Fallout 3 in GOTD and Skyrim in 2015. It’s an odd look for a Nintendo game to lose two close matches to western games, even if they’re probably the two strongest ones we have. Usually, Nintendo finds a way to “clutch” those wins out, one way or the other.

Kingdom Hearts faltered against its superior sequel (yeah I said it, come at me) in GOTD and squandered an opportunity to beat a mainline FF in 2015. It almost always looks good in defeat, but it can never quite break through. It’s also got Vice City, Warcraft III, and Morrowind on its side, which are fine games, but they’re low midcarders through and through. 2002 is one of those years that would be fun to predict elsewhere, but I don’t see how it beats 1991 next round. It’s just not good enough. It’s really going to put that “year closest to 1998” theory to the test!

Beating 2010 is easy enough though. The biggest games from 2010 flopped in 2015, or at the very least, they squandered opportunities to prove their worth. Mass Effect 2 got pummeled by MGS3 the round after it nearly lost to BioShock, which is still the weirdest back-to-back performance from that contest. Mario Galaxy 2 lost to the original Mass Effect, and Red Dead Redemption got rolled by Shadow of the Colossus. This might not be a super blowout like we’ve become accustomed to seeing (or it might! Who knows! This contest is weird), but it won’t be close.

Leonhart’s Vote: 2010

Leonhart’s Prediction: 2002 with 68.25%
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Moltar Status: contest woo
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