LogFAQs > #932984313

Match 133: Link vs. Pikachu

Link 20129
Pikachu 9295

So yeah, about that Pikachu...

In 2007, he made it to the quarterfinals, which due to the fourway format meant Top 16 instead of Top 8, but nevertheless it meant outlasting 7/8 of the field. But everyone just chalked it up to SFF and LFF, and possibly Tidus having a reputation as a choker. With Pikachu handily getting second behind Leon Kennedy in Round 2, the idea that it was SFF/LFF that let him win his Round 3 fourpack might not have been totally unwarranted (although you have to figure that Leon might have benefited from STF in Round 2, being the protagonist of a dark, mature horror game against three bright, colorful characters).

In 2008, Pikachu makes the quarterfinals again. Absolutely no one is accusing him of being the beneficiary of SFF this time; if anything, he's catching flak in the early rounds for dishing it out, allowing Arthas Menethil to advance over Ike and take 3rd place in Round 2 over Captain Falcon. But mostly they didn't really care because he knocked out L-Block, and because Samus's presence meant he wouldn't get in the way of the Crono-Vincent rubber match.

In 2010, Pikachu takes a step back and is knocked out in Round 3, which despite the return to 1v1s is once again the Round of 32. But then the raw X-Stats come out and he's 6th. Again, this is quietly swept away because it's Solid Shit vs. ...wait, is that a HeartGold/SoulSilver sprite, mere days after the game came out in the United States? Damn Pikachu had the pic advantage! We always talk about the sprite round being good for Pokmon, but a true "first appearance" theme like they have in a lot of the sprite rounds (though not this year; for example, the Legend of Zelda crew was rocking ALttP sprites) would actually be kind of iffy because the Gen I sprites are pretty hideous, especially if you truly enforced the letter of the law and used Japanese Red/Green sprites instead of the Japanese Blue sprites that were carried over to the international releases.

In 2013, people are griping about Pikachu benefiting from SFF before it even happens, praying for Otacon to upset Magus so that Crono can get a fair shot at Pikachu. Pikachu wins handily, then resists LFF from Pokmon Trainer Blue, another SFF beneficiary, to edge out Sora for the Top 9. Board 8 was surprised for some reason when he managed to take second in the semifinal trio over fellow Gen I icon Squirtle; personally, I'm more surprised that he wasn't able to repeat the feat in the Fourth Place Match against Mewtwo (though Mewtwo rSFFing Pikachu seems logical given how Mewtwo was the cool, edgy overpowered final boss type, and I think maybe also a higher tier in Melee? I don't know; I don't follow competitive Smash. Then again, being more popular within the fanbase was a justification we often used for picking hilarious upsets in the early years, and this was probably the first time it actually came through.)

And now here he was again, having advanced out of the Top 16. Due to the double-elimination format, this merely put him into the Top 12, not the Top 8, but nevertheless: Pikachu is legit. There's really no denying it. Getting more than doubled by Link is nothing to be ashamed of; it's even happened to Noble Niners. In 1v1s, even. His loss here set up a rematch with Mega Man, and given how close the first match was, it was no guarantee that he'd win again...but it was no guarantee that he'd lose, either.

We really need to stop using the term "Noble Nine" in the context of measuring contest strength. The Noble Nine will always be the Noble Nine, and can never be added to or subtracted from. They are the original nine Elites, who have been in every contest and have been elite in every contest--yes, even when Crono got beat in Round 1 by a glitchy pile of garbage data, because that falls under the purview of "rallies". But as of this contest, it's clear that they have legitimate company in the highest tier (well, the highest tier is still just Link by himself, but aside from that). Zelda, Pikachu, probably Tifa. I'm still not entirely convinced that Mega Man X isn't really close to Mega Man Classic in indirect strength, and losing to Tifa doesn't invalidate that because she's part of this group of "new elites". Outside of the ever-dangerous rallybait, it would surprise me if any of them were to lose to competition outside of each other and the Noble Nine, even though all of them have done so in the past. (Well, X hasn't outside of getting double-barrel SFFed by Link and Mario, but that's because it took him so long to debut.)

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Also known as Cyberchao X.