LogFAQs > #914336655

41.



2018 had a ton of photo finishes, but the most important match of the year was a massacre. Zelda went into the match as a surprise favourite due to Squall struggling a little and Zelda doing really well, but this was worse than anyone really anticipated. Zelda *killed* Squall here.

We've had a number of results where characters can be extrapolated out to look like they're a top 5 character. The most obvious one in my memory is Tifa/Vyse from 2005 where Tifa put up a Cloud-like performance that suggested she might win the whole contest. Turns out, Vyse just kinda dropped off a cliff. The Zelda match had all of those possibilities here. Maybe Squall fell off a cliff, and maybe Zelda was great, but we've never had a case of a character going from being a top 20-ish guy to being a legit top 2 or 3.

You can define a lot of contests by a single character. 2005 was Mario, 2006 was Snake, 2007 was L-Block, etc. 2018 was undoubtedly the year of Zelda and it started with this match.

I think of this match as being a reverse Squall/Luigi. Instead of Squall going from being just decent in 2002 to a potential NN breaker from 2003 onwards, Zelda went from being decent to being a legit top 5 guy. I really wonder if she stays there or if she falls back to the pack, because this kind of performance is unprecedented. Whenever we do another character battle, the conversation will probably start with... okay, probably some rally character. But after that it will be on Zelda and Sephiroth first and foremost.
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xyzzy