LogFAQs > #914589273

5.



This was the original contest miracle. Think about it: Mario just beat Cloud but was in a fight for his life against Crono? If I had been watching 2002 closely, this would have probably been the most shocking contest result of all time for me. Crono was already on a miracle run with beating Lara and Snake. But Mario? After he beat Cloud?

This is the birth of our greatest contest rivalry. It hasn't been a rivalry since 06 or so, but the four matches from 02-05 really defined contest lore. There's three more if you want to talk about the spring 2004 matchups, including CT/Mario 3 which didn't make this list but felt like a really big deal at the time. It was Crono and Mario's biggest games facing off yet again.

I wish we had match updates or something here. The oral histories that are out there, plus Ceej, say that Crono stuffed the hell out of this poll, and a few votes were removed. Who knows exactly how many -- 2002 feels like the dark ages. No oracle, no match updates, no Guru, no nothing.

Chance are the stuffing was due to the Mario/Cloud result. I don't let pesky facts like that get in the way of a narrative though. This match elevated Crono into the very top tier which is really where he belonged given where Square would go in 2003 and 2004. Maybe he doesn't belong to at 49.95 on Mario, but I love that he got there. It made 2003 better. I doubt Mario and Crono get matched up in 03 and 04 if not for 02. You can tell that even CJayC liked that this was a thing.
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xyzzy