Board 8 > Best Year in Gaming Contest Analysis Crew

(+) Yeah! (+)

oh well
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Round 3 – 1998 vs. 2003

Moltar’s Analysis

Remember that 1997 vs 1996 match?

Yeah this is gonna be like that but worse. 1998 is stronger than (or equal to if you want to believe the winner of this contest is in doubt) 1997, and 2003 is easily weaker than 1996.

Moltar’s Bracket: 1998

Moltar’s Prediction: 1998 - 75%



transience’s Analysis

Every year we have that one entrant that goes far but doesn't belong. I always compare it to Scorpion, the 2002 entrant that went way further than he should have and got overrated for years because of it. (And also stopped Sub-Zero from showing up until 06.)

2003 is not only that entrant this year, it's also going to get murdered by the alpha dog. Wind Waker and a bunch of mediocre games? Ocarina will squash Wind Waker and the other games of 03 are begging to get murdered by even mid-tier 98 games like FFT. This will be ugly.

transience's prediction: 1998 with 76.12%



Leonhart’s Analysis

In many contests, there’s an entrant who’s still hanging around in the Elite Eight or Final Four who has no business being there and is just outclassed by everything else. In 2002, it was Scorpion. In the Villains Contest, it was Diablo. In the Series Contest, it was Metal Gear. In 2006, it was Yuna. In 2007, it was Dante. In Rivalry Rumble, it was Alucard/Dracula. In 2015, it was Mario RPG. In this contest, it’s 2003. I’m recounting contest history to pad this writeup because there’s not much to say. 2003 is only here because it had a ridiculously weak four-pack, and the strongest game from that year (Wind Waker) is completely neutralized by Ocarina of Time. 1998 gets another cakewalk win, and we will still have no idea how strong it actually is.

Leonhart’s Vote: 1998

Leonhart’s Prediction: 1998 with 80.80%



Kleenex’s Analysis

Not much to say here. 1998 stomps, and then we'll analyze how much it gets in this match and try to come up with ways that 1997 can beat it. Spoilers: there are none.

Kleenex's Prediction: 1998 with 82%



Guest’s Analysis - Bane

By far the least contested match of the Quaters I think? Like whoever won between 03 and 05 in Round 2 was just looking to who would get sacrificed to 98 next round. Anyway, as expected 1998 has been pretty much steamrolling through the contest. It hasn't had any particularly tough competition yet, but regardless it's been doing well.

2003 has had a bit rougher of a road, namely the aforementioned 2005 fight. 2005 isn't a slouch year, so 2003 pulling off a 57% against it isn't something to scoff about.

But let's cut it here: ain't much of a way 2003 wins this fight.

1998 with 65.67%



Crew Consensus: 98 wins zzzzzzz
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Oh wow I guess I'm giving 2003 too much credit
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Damn, 1994 has messed my bracket up. I had it losing to 2004 back in round one, I thought WOW would be strong.
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ha, Leon and I have the same writeup
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Bane_Of_Despair posted...

Oh wow I guess I'm giving 2003 too much credit

I'd be shocked if it does better than 1992, if nothing else.
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I almost asked Moltar to raise my 1998 prediction by 5% after seeing the pic lineup

maybe I should have
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I almost went for like 90% because why not
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holy moly this is a stomp
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actually looking like I made the right choice to keep my pick

flirting with perfection again
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come on '98, just a few more tenths of a percent
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Prob won't be able to post write ups tonight so....


2001 is strong but 1997 is stronger

1997 with 57%
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oh do we just need to post our own now?
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MasterMoltar posted...

Prob won't be able to post write ups tonight so....


2001 is strong but 1997 is stronger

1997 with 57%

2001 is stronger, but 1997 is stronger on this site.
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I'll just go ahead and post mine then!

If I’m looking at this match at face value, 2001 might be my favorite year in this contest. It’s got one of my favorite games ever in FFX and a bunch of other great games I like a lot, like SSBM, MGS2, Paper Mario, and so on. It’s such a loaded year. However, 1997 vs. 1996 probably made me the happiest I’ve been this entire contest because—let’s be real—this contest hasn’t had a lot of excitement and drama. There have only been three matches where the winner wasn’t leading at the freeze, and the winner had taken the lead by the end of the Power Hour. The biggest comeback has been 56 votes, and 2000/1996 is the only match that had a lead change outside of the Power Hour.

But seeing 1997 doing FFVII’s traditional rise to high heaven against 1996 gave me such a feeling of nostalgia for the good ol’ days. It was a fun blowout to watch. It almost makes me want to vote for it again here just to see the beautiful domination continue. 1997 has a lot of games I love, too, like FFVII, Mario Kart 64, and Star Fox 64. This might be the highest quality one-on-one match for me, along with 1994/2004. I guess I’ll do the best of both worlds here and vote for 2001 while simultaneously hoping 1997 crushes this match to give me false hope about the final. My entire contest tenure here has been built on false hope since SC2K4. I want it—no, I need it back in my life.

Leonhart’s Vote: 2001

Leonhart’s Prediction: 1997 with 63.25%
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moltar copied my prediction

Early on, I think you could have made a case for this being a debatable match. Some people might still try to make a case for this being a debatable match. I don't really see it. 1997 destroyed 1996, a year that is not slouch itself. 2001 didn't look great against 1995 - though to be fair 1995 is probably shaping up to be one of the top 5 years in this contest.

At the end of the day, 2001 might have the depth advantage on 1997 (slightly), but I think 1997 just hit so much harder with its big games. That being said, there's always a possibility something funky could happen because Melee fans are out of their god damn minds, but no one seems to care much about this contest either way.

Kleenex's Prediction: 1997 with 57%
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my guest analysis:

1997 is definitely the favorite here, but it isn't a guaranteed win in my opinion, because I think it's a little difficult to gauge the strength of both years based on their previous matches. 95 was barely able to squeak by against a bunch of important NES games with nothing but Chrono Trigger, which shows how strong of a game it is here. In Round 3 that behemoth of a game was backed up with Yoshi's Island, Donkey Kong Country 2, and Earthbound. Meanwhile, 96 had Mario 64, Mario RPG, and a bunch of fodder to defend itself against 97, which beat it pretty hard. Most people wouldn't doubt that it got SFF'd to some degree, but how much of an impact it had in the blowout is hard to say. For now I'd say 97 gets 60% before SFF.

After some thinking, I decided that 95 is definitely stronger than 96, because, while the N64 came out in 96, not many really good games came out that year outside of Mario. CT is definitely stronger than Mario 64, and the trio of SNES games to back it up definitely makes 95 look stronger than 96 despite it having its own SNES game in Mario RPG.

With that said, even if 95 would win that match easily I don't think it would get 70% on 96 after SFF, so I can't pick 2001 here. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an upset though.

1997 - 54.58%
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just saw 1997's lineup of games

*sighs*
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man after seeing those pictures I'm less sure now

FF7 should be enough but Age of Empires really
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Mixed feelings about the pictures. The first set of pictures really favors 97 because it's all Sony, with 97 having the stronger games, but the rest are definitely in 2001's favor.
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2001's seem so much better. there's no real dud in the 8. maybe advance wars, but even as duds go it's not that bad.
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Round 4 – 2001 vs. 1997

Moltar’s Analysis

Before the contest, I took a risk and though 1997 would flop early. That turned out well………..

1997’s round 3 performance should clear any doubts about it not being a top 2 year in this contest. The expanded picture format only further displays how deep and strong the year is beyond just FF7.

2001 is up there though, and it looks to be one of the few years in this contest that can challenge 1997. The problem there though is that it didn’t look like a worldbeater in Round 3 against 1995, and now that performance looks even worse with 1997 looking like a worldbeater 24 hours later.

Judging actual strength of the years not on blowing out fodder, but against years with strength also seems to be the way to go, so I’m not going to put too much strong in the early round showings for these years. It’s simply two powerhouse years going head-to-head, and 1997 has the edge based off what we saw last round.

Moltar’s Bracket: 2001

Moltar’s Prediction: 1997 - 57%



transience’s Analysis

I'm writing this without seeing the match pics, but I don't think they matter all that much. The difference between our top and bottom most voted poll is like 5000 votes max. I'm pretty sure that our audience is largely people that come here over and over so adding Golden Sun or Diddy Kong Racing isn't going to rock the boat here.

97 is the clear fave here. 2001 struggled to beat 1995 while 1997 went to town against 1996. That might be the most impressive result of the contest. It's one of those 85/87esque "what the fuck just happened?" kind of performances. You'd call it SFF if SFF made any sense. Goldeneye isn't about to SFF Mario 64. Nope.

But the fact is, that result made 1996 look as strong as 2007 and 1990 looks like it would get demolished. Sorry, but I'm a little skeptical buying that one. Without seeing that result, you'd look at 01 and 97 and think it would be pretty close. 01 doesn't have the monster at the top like 97 does, but it does have some serious depth. 01 goes 10 deep, like legitimately 10 deep. 97 goes 5. If depth really is a big helper, 01 should be able to stand up to 97 easily.

I'm a little nervous about this one. Results tell one story but my brain tells me another. This contest is hard to really ascertain what people are voting for so I should probably trust results more than anything else. Still, I'm wary here. I'm gonna lowball 97. Show me you can compete with 1998, FF7.

transience's prediction: 1997 with 54.41%



Leonhart’s Analysis

If I’m looking at this match at face value, 2001 might be my favorite year in this contest. It’s got one of my favorite games ever in FFX and a bunch of other great games I like a lot, like SSBM, MGS2, Paper Mario, and so on. It’s such a loaded year. However, 1997 vs. 1996 probably made me the happiest I’ve been this entire contest because—let’s be real—this contest hasn’t had a lot of excitement and drama. There have only been three matches where the winner wasn’t leading at the freeze, and the winner had taken the lead by the end of the Power Hour. The biggest comeback has been 56 votes, and 2000/1996 is the only match that had a lead change outside of the Power Hour.
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But seeing 1997 doing FFVII’s traditional rise to high heaven against 1996 gave me such a feeling of nostalgia for the good ol’ days. It was a fun blowout to watch. It almost makes me want to vote for it again here just to see the beautiful domination continue. 1997 has a lot of games I love, too, like FFVII, Mario Kart 64, and Star Fox 64. This might be the highest quality one-on-one match for me, along with 1994/2004. I guess I’ll do the best of both worlds here and vote for 2001 while simultaneously hoping 1997 crushes this match to give me false hope about the final. My entire contest tenure here has been built on false hope since SC2K4. I want it—no, I need it back in my life.

Leonhart’s Vote: 2001

Leonhart’s Prediction: 1997 with 63.25%



Kleenex’s Analysis


Early on, I think you could have made a case for this being a debatable match. Some people might still try to make a case for this being a debatable match. I don't really see it. 1997 destroyed 1996, a year that is not slouch itself. 2001 didn't look great against 1995 - though to be fair 1995 is probably shaping up to be one of the top 5 years in this contest.

At the end of the day, 2001 might have the depth advantage on 1997 (slightly), but I think 1997 just hit so much harder with its big games. That being said, there's always a possibility something funky could happen because Melee fans are out of their god damn minds, but no one seems to care much about this contest either way.

Kleenex's Prediction: 1997 with 57%



Guest’s Analysis - whatisurnameplz


1997 is definitely the favorite here, but it isn't a guaranteed win in my opinion, because I think it's a little difficult to gauge the strength of both years based on their previous matches. 95 was barely able to squeak by against a bunch of important NES games with nothing but Chrono Trigger, which shows how strong of a game it is here. In Round 3 that behemoth of a game was backed up with Yoshi's Island, Donkey Kong Country 2, and Earthbound. Meanwhile, 96 had Mario 64, Mario RPG, and a bunch of fodder to defend itself against 97, which beat it pretty hard. Most people wouldn't doubt that it got SFF'd to some degree, but how much of an impact it had in the blowout is hard to say. For now I'd say 97 gets 60% before SFF.


After some thinking, I decided that 95 is definitely stronger than 96, because, while the N64 came out in 96, not many really good games came out that year outside of Mario. CT is definitely stronger than Mario 64, and the trio of SNES games to back it up definitely makes 95 look stronger than 96 despite it having its own SNES game in Mario RPG.


With that said, even if 95 would win that match easily I don't think it would get 70% on 96 after SFF, so I can't pick 2001 here. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an upset though.


1997 - 54.58%

Crew Consensus: 1997 to the finals
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we're definitely screwed now
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give me back my false hope Allen
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Maybe I should've picked 2001...
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2001 is the bracket favorite.
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1997 got dumbed down!

Hell yeah 2001.

Unfortunately my bracket was such an abomination that even if it pulls out the victory I won't do well, but hey, I can at least feel good about this one.
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boy, I'd be more than a little ticked off right now if my bracket was anywhere near contention

as it is I'm annoyed because I need to rewrite my finals analysis if 2001 wins!
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just seeing this. my browser doesn't even show the first picture of 2001 and 1997 doesn't have 007 or MK64?

forget this contest. I am definitely in contention but I think it's more than that.
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at least we can take solace in 1998 smashing 2001 next round

I wish I had saved the rough year tier list I made when the contest was first announced, I'd be curious to see how close I was
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That Crew Curse. I have 1997 too. :(
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I am still not sure why Crew took 1997. 2001 was always the favorite.
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Well it's interesting because going into the contest as a whole 2001 was the favorite in this match. Then going into this specific match 1997 became the favorite. So you can't blame them too much.
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you can blame us. that's what we're here for
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transience posted...

just seeing this. my browser doesn't even show the first picture of 2001 and 1997 doesn't have 007 or MK64?

forget this contest. I am definitely in contention but I think it's more than that.

So that's not just me then. What a disaster.

Safer_777 posted...

I am still not sure why Crew took 1997. 2001 was always the favorite.

Take it from me B8ers just don't understand.
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Safer_777 posted...

I am still not sure why Crew took 1997. 2001 was always the favorite.

People saw 97 destroy 96 and 2001 barely beat 95 so they thought it'd be an easy win for 97. We underestimated how strong 95 was, 97 destroying 96 probably involved some SFF, and 97 not having GoldenEye in the match picture hurts it. Though to be fair in my analysis I said an 01 win wasn't impossible, just that 97 winning was more likely.

If I knew 97 wouldn't have GoldenEye I might've gone for the 01 pick.
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None of those extra details determined the outcome of the match. 1997 got an awful picture. That's all.
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whatever
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I mean you can argue all those other factors if you want but just stop arguing 2000 definitely lost because of a bad pic while trying to argue 1997 lost for a bunch of other reasons and not really the pic. Just be consistent one way or the other.
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I mean I voted 2001 and like it better, but this win doesn't feel good at all.
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Well even if 97 got GoldenEye and Mario Kart would it have broken 60? I don't think so.
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I wrote that the pics wouldn't matter but that was before I knew that 97 would be missing 2 of its top 4. this is a repeat of the 2000 match.
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I just think 2001 is objectively a better year so I'm p happy
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whatisurnameplz posted...

Well even if 97 got GoldenEye and Mario Kart would it have broken 60? I don't think so.

Probably not, but it'd probably be winning comfortably. You're also changing the argument by changing it to "It wouldn't win with 60%" when you've been trying to argue the pic isn't the reason it's losing. Even if you want to argue 2000 got shafted harder, 1997 is going to lose by less than 2000 did, so it balances out.
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yeah, I think 97 is one of the worst years of gaming. still shouldn't have gotten screwed like this though.
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So the pictured does matter?
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just seeing this. my browser doesn't even show the first picture of 2001 and 1997 doesn't have 007 or MK64?

forget this contest. I am definitely in contention but I think it's more than that.

So that's not just me then. What a disaster.

You guys clicked the link in the Contest Pics topic for 1997l which loaded as blank, so your browsers think they already know what the link point to and when it got replaced with the actual picture your browser tried to save time by not loading it. If you do Control + F5 you'll clear the cache and force the actual picture to come up. Same thing happened to me.

Weird situation but there's no worries about your average voter not seeing any of today's 4 pictures.


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Round 4 – 1994 vs. 1998

Moltar’s Analysis

1998, the pre-contest favorite to win it all, has not done anything to lose that status. 80%+ performances all thoughout the contest so far, and even though 1994 is strong, it is certainly not on the level of 1998.

The only thing to watch here is how big the margin of victory is, because the higher it goes, the less of a chance you give 1997 in pulling off the upset in the finals.





Oh wait 2001 is winning so uh….that doesn’t really change much.

Moltar’s Bracket: 1998

Moltar’s Prediction: 1998 - 67%



transience’s Analysis

Man, what a dumb contest.

Anyway! 1998 is basically just taking its victory lap here, so this match isn't that interesting. 1994 is probably the weakest of the final four, just like 2003 was the weakest of the final 8. 1998 is the elephant in the room that everyone tries to avoid, even the bracketmaker.

That said, I think 1994 has the potential to do the best against 1998. There's a clear delineation between 2d and 3d games. 1998 is the starchild of the 3d era, the year that truly brought a bunch of genres into the 3d era. 1994 is probably the star of the 2d era. It's too bad that the SNES is split across so many years. You've got Mario World, LTTP, Super Metroid, FF6 and Chrono Trigger and the only year with two of the five is 1994. Still, 1994 might stand the best chance of not getting crushed under the weight of 1998. We'll see.

transience's prediction: 1998 with 65.24%



Leonhart’s Analysis

Sorry, my internet is down, so I'm going to have to make this short and sweet from my phone! Thankfully, nothing really needs to be said. 1998 wins tonight. 1998 wins tomorrow. The end.

Leonhart's Vote : 1994

Leonhart's Prediction : 1998 with 69.75%



Kleenex’s Analysis

Well. 1994 is certainly the strongest year that 1998 has to face so far. Maybe FF6 and crew can keep this monster under 70%? I think this is a good chance for 1994 to prove that it's actually legit. I've been down on that year the whole contest, but if it can avoid a doubling, I'll at least give it some credit.

Kleenex's Prediction: 1998 with 68%



Guest’s Analysis - tennisboy213

1994 got a great set of pics. Doesn't matter. 1998 wins. And I won't underestimate it this time.

tennisboy213's bracket: 1998>1994
tennisboy213's prediction: 1998 with 70%



Crew Consensus: 1998 to the finals (for real this time)
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