LogFAQs > #986336387

IMO, if Snake and Sora's match pic could shift 5%+ the former's way, why couldn't Kirby and Bowser's have done the same in a markedly low votal bout between two characters with far greater fanbase overlap? Versus Melee Kirby in Melee Dream Land, that Bowser art looks just as clearly out of place as Sora did, and I think the contrast of expressions and match of ice puff against fire breath imparted in Kirby an underdog aura that played perfectly into his appeal.

...another unmentioned possibility (albeit one I tend not to favor) is that nothing notably unusual happened there at all - after all, Luigi arguably has been about on par with Bowser (with some fluctuations in the two's relative standing) ever since the Nintendo Boost.