LogFAQs > #948278972

5. What if there were no rallies in the 2015 game contest?

2015 is our first and only chance for a traditional, 1v1 game contest without any restrictions like seeding by era. It was well past our prime, but because of no restrictions, it was a great contest. We got some really good matches that we never got to see in the 00s, and ended up with some pretty interesting old/new splits, none more pronounced than Super Mario RPG making the semifinals due to being packed in with a lot of mid-00s games.

But there were also some pretty wild rallies. Undertale is the big one, but there was also Melee which ruined a truly great Chrono Trigger run due to a rally. Chrono Trigger was a monster in 2015, most likely due to the site shrinking. Let's drop some comparison matches, eh?

Chrono Trigger 65.52%
Final Fantasy X 34.48%

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 64.96%
Final Fantasy IX 35.04%

Final Fantasy VII 65.29%
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 34.71%

You can make the case that CT was the strongest game in 2015, which is wild. But there's a lot of caveats there, too. We've seen many games go big against lesser competition before failing against the king. In my opinion, this isn't enough to definitively say anything. But it's a fact that Chrono Trigger outperformed Ocarina on a stronger Final Fantasy game.

Final Fantasy VI 39.95%
Final Fantasy VII 60.05%

Final Fantasy VI 38.34%
Chrono Trigger 61.66%

The FF6 polls are a bit suspect: the FF6/FF7 match takes place on Melee/CT day, though FF7 was up 56/44 before it hit and would likely have risen after the first hour anyway. The FF6/CT match is a bonus match, taking place the day after the Undertale/Ocarina finale. You can also call SFF in both of those matches if you want, and maybe in CT/FFX if you're a skeptic. You can definitely disregard results if you want.

But the bummer is that we never got to see it. There's more than just CT to consider: what could have happened with Pokemon RBY now that it has some breathing room away from Ocarina? What is the strongest Mario game between 3, World and 64? Where does FF7 lie against other big games? We'll never know.

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xyzzy