LogFAQs > #937923726

EXCELLENT video. I mean it. What a narrative, damn I felt my blood boil for the contests the way it used to. You rule man!

I didnt become a regular here till 08, but word of the past contests always interested me. Ive just today been poking around the Board 8 Wiki and reflecting on past memories with some of these contests, and one thing seems consistent: People really used to call this site NintendoFAQs!

And I wonder why that is? It must have been some horrible misunderstanding, because the numbers consistently tell a different story. I mean good lord, FF7 should have never had anything on Mario or Link, when comparing games or characters. Even when FF7 was at its peak (whether that be when it was newish or when its nostalgia had peaked), how could it touch Mario and Link/Zelda, the respective video game avatars for fun and adventure?

I think a common view is/was that Cloud is better because he actually has a personality, but thats a tragic reason to call him a better video game character. Video game characters and stories have a much different role than do characters/stories in other media; I always felt Nintendo understood this. Sure if Cloud were written into a novel, his novel would be much better than Marios, as Cloud would actually have dialogue; but then as dialogue goes, FF7 is translated horribly anyway and would be torn apart if viewed on the merits of its writing. I mean if John Steinbeck or Rudyard Kipling had been responsible for FF7s writing, theyd have been laughed into historical irrelevancy. So it seems strange to laud Cloud for his personality in that sense. As video game protagonists go, Id give my nod to Mario for being cool enough and cute enough to trailblaze a dozen different series across a dozen different genres, each time being the platinum standard for through-and-through fun, quality, polish, and innovation. What I mean is, hes Mr. Video Game! Cloud is just a guy who was in a really cool game.

My desultory rant concluding as this: On a website where FF7 has consistently beaten OoT, there sure as hell aint a Nintendo bias. I think quite the opposite that era of gaming was marked by a strange anti-Nintendo angst. Surely the claims of Nintendo bias come from this sentiment and a desire to confirm it. I mean gosh, Cloud-Seph nearly beat Red-Blue in a contest for best rivalry. How was that even close??? Red-Blue is the most nostalgic, iconic rivalry of all-time for at least two generations of gamers and nongamers alike; so huge that Ash and Gary are still relevant in the common persons lexicon to this day. Very strange to me. I could chalk it up to a few things, but to say there was Nintendo bias here? Thats crazy.