Board 8 > ~*Ultimaterializer's Post-Contest Analysis!!*~

(+) Yeah! (+)

Ulti_PCA posted...

Can you came the 4th person to walk on the moon without googling it? Me either, because no one after Neil Armstrong matters.

No one after Buzz Aldrin, I'd say. He was along with Armstrong, unlike him didn't become a recluse, inspired the name of Buzz Lightyear, and punches dumb people in the face! A rare case where #2 deserves recognition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UryIstlIGks" data-time="

And weird to see Ulti saying he likes to use Aeris, some of his write-ups have him saying she's a terrible character.
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I'm a solid 98% sure Ulti just wanted to make a joke.
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So for the Wiki, I made some changes. I deleted all the percentage predictions and such since Ulti said they will be added later and also I posted all my matches under Lightining Strikes ones because they were randomly before.

So for the one that adds LS's matches put them under Ulti's and then I will put mine under that too. Or if I put them after Ulti's just post yours above me so I will be at the e nd anyways. Thanks

Also can someone make a topic for Metal Sonic VS The Boss in the Wiki? There are for the matches after that but not for this one. Thanks.
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Ulti_PCA posted...

Don't know, don't care. Guile finally made a contest!

This. With Guile's appearance, we have the following marked off from SF2: Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, M Bison, Guile, Sagat (Rivalry)

What's left: Blanka, Balrog, Vega, E Honda, Zangief, Dhalsim

Well aware most of the bottom would get wiped out, but still, one could imagine
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Tastes can change as one gets older. I used to hate Aeris because the jp was literally obsessed with her and the scene is completely overrated (watch it again and look at the white materia physics, you cannot unsee it). As in he was completely unhealthy and lost jobs because he stayed up all night to get her saved in board contests and such.

Then I played Crisis Core and got older. You appreciate characters differently over time. Like I used to hate Kyle's family in South Park, now I love them and think they're hilariously underrated.
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It's right here.

https://board8.wikia.com/wiki/(5)Metal_Sonic_vs_(12)The_Boss_2018
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To be fair Aeris is a lot better in Crisis Core than anything else. That game converted me from hating her to being a lukewarm whatever on her. Which is a big deal.

I think part of it has to do with voice acting though. She's comes off differently than how I imagined in FFVII but in a way that seems like a valid interpretation of her character. Wasn't just having a VA cause in KH and AC her VA didn't give that vibe.
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I always really liked the FFVII cast because it was a crew of colossal screw-ups. Except Aeris, who by virtue of not being a colossal screw-up had her niche in the party, and it was appropriate for her to be the one.
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I always liked Aeritsu
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Ulti_PCA posted...

Alright I'm taking a break. I did a ton of writing tonight and need to sleep sometimes!

Someone tell this worthless asshole to do his fucking job for once.
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In respect to Waluigi's contest run that never was, I'll leave this here.

https://twitter.com/Master0fHyrule/status/1074734739548987392
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Division 6 Round 1: (1)Geralt vs (16)Rosalina

(1)Geralt - 16779 [56.03%]
(16)Rosalina - 13170 [43.97%]
Total Votes - 29949
Prediction Percentage - 75.56%

True fact: I heavily considered taking Rosalina to win three matches, and eventually settled on "Nintendo can't be THAT strong, right?". Picked Geralt here with zero faith whatsoever, because GameFAQs people haven't played anything released after 1999. There was very little faith that Geralt would be able to justify his seeding and largely because of him, this division was seen as the weakest in the entire contest. Pretty much everyone picked Auron to win it, but for the top half there were picks all over the place. The case could legitimately be made for all eight characters winning three times because of how bad they all were.

For 15 minutes, those fears were very well placed. This match was a stone cold tie for three updates, and people pretty much lost their shit over it. This wasn't just a 1 seed crapping the bed. This match was very significant, because it was the first time we'd ever seen a character originating from outside a video game in a 1v1 character battle. I know Dracula and Adolf Hitler happened, but those were in a gimmick contest. This was the real thing. A 1v1 character battle where you get the match all to yourself. Geralt was our breaker of a glass ceiling we've all wanted gone for years.

And he looked like absolute piss for 15 minutes, and made me wish I had stuck with the Rosalina pick. Thankfully, the dude made a quick recovery and was able to wreck the rest of the poll. I chalk it up to simple nerves, like how a super hyped 1 seed in the NCAAs might look bad for a half before wrecking shop. That's essentially what Geralt did here. He wasn't just a new character; he was representing all of our hopes to one day see a Spiderman, a Batman, a Superman, a Simba, or what have you. Allen broke his rule to allow Witcher 3 representation in this bracket, and I'm glad he did. This would not be the first Geralt match to follow the trend you see here.

I need to mention this before I forget. I like Allen a lot, but not changing Geralt's match picture to this when the Witcher Netflix thing was announced was just a crime: https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--EDDNwFn0--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/fvnnf23urglkrot4xasa.png

Like how does he miss that? Seriously bro.

This also bears mentioning: fictional characters 100% need to be allowed into these brackets. None of us want something insane like 90% fictional characters in a bracket, but as a random example, Spiderman for the PS4 is going to get a bunch of Game of the Year hype. Yet Spiderman can't make a bracket? Dumb. The easy exception here is allowing characters in who have obvious reasons for it. Charles Barkley should never make a character battle. It's just a dumb troll nomination. But Batman after an Arkham game, Spiderman after his PS4 game, or Thanos after Fortnite? Come on man, this is easy stuff and should have been a thing ages ago.
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UltimaterializerX posted...

_Dog_ posted...

Ulti_PCA posted...

Of that list, here is my opinion on who is actual 16 seed material, and by this I mean comparable to the NCAAs where they have the 16 for a reason and would have no prayer of ever winning a match regardless of opponent.

Did you forget what happened this year?

Did a 16 seed win when I wasnt looking?

And I know Rosalina did well. Thats why shes not a true 16 seed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_UMBC_vs._Virginia_men%27s_basketball_game
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I was going to use that reference for Rosalina but got focused on Geralt being awesome.
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Division 6 Round 1: (8)Ryu Hayabusa vs (9)Simon Belmont

(8)Ryu Hayabusa - 14743 [49.22%]
(9)Simon Belmont - 15210 [50.78%]
Total Votes - 29953
Prediction Percentage - 57.94%

This match may look like it was a barn burner due to the final percentages and score, but it wasn't really a classic/great match. You know the phrase in sports "not as close as the final score"? That was this match. Simon Belmont took the early lead, and outside of a few speed bumps in the first hour, he was able to very consistently hold things at 52-53%. Ryu was able to cut the peak lead of 750 down to 450 or so, but it was never at a winning comeback pace.

We've seen Ryu in some weird matches in the past where he pulls off some astonishing feats, and I sort of include this match on that list, but he was a victim of two things. One was the 8pm poll start time killing our trends. I honestly think Ryu could have won this match had it started at midnight. Look at how well Ryu did after 2am. Shift this entire poll 4 hours and he may very well have won the day vote to win. I know that makes no sense, but we see weird things happen as polls get closer.

The other thing Ryu was a victim of is pretty obvious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8oCbGaAZTo" data-time="

Just for fun, if you plug 2010 values into the stat calculator, you get Ryu winning this match with 55%. If you plug in 2013 numbers, you get 62%. If you plug in 2004 Ryu against 2002 Simon, you get 61%. And if you plug in 2007's numbers, you get a typical LOL x stats result of 75%. We can toss that one out as an outlier and just use the mean of the other 3, which is 59%.

Is a simple announcement of being in Smash Bros worth 10% in a GameFAQs contest? Nothing else happened that would have affected either character, and without Smash Ryu clearly wins this match. With it, Simon flips things 10%. If you use the lowest possible number, it's like a 6% flip. Any time someone tries denying Smash's influence on our site, just show them this PCA. Couldn't be more obvious.

And because I can:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFMQ_wM80_c" data-time="

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVRJktHHiTM" data-time="
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Underrated and probably most significant factor of any Smash Boost is Simon actually gets a recognizable picture that isn't Judgment Simon with his 93 belts.
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Ulti_PCA posted...

Is a simple announcement of being in Smash Bros worth 10% in a GameFAQs contest? Nothing else happened that would have affected either character

Castlevania did get a Netflix series that people seem to like, even though it has nothing to do with Simon.
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Lopen posted...

Underrated and probably most significant factor of any Smash Boost is Simon actually gets a recognizable picture that isn't Judgment Simon with his 93 belts.

The pictures felt too small in rounds 1-3 to matter. People mention Quiet and Claire, but I legit could barely see the pictures until round 4.
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Ulti_PCA posted...

GameFAQs people haven't played anything released after 1999

that wouldnt be super helpful for rosalina either
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NFUN posted...

Ulti_PCA posted...

GameFAQs people haven't played anything released after 1999

that wouldnt be super helpful for rosalina either

First-party Nintendo in general and Smash in particular is kinda an exception to that rule.
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Ulti_PCA posted...

Is a simple announcement of being in Smash Bros worth 10% in a GameFAQs contest?

The thing about those Smash announcements is that they turn a otherwise unknown/forgettable character into the center of attention
So when you must vote in all 4 matches, it's pretty much "people that playes Ninja Gaidan vs people that didn't play Ninja Gaidan but watched the Smash direct" and it's not really fair
People just see Simon and think "hey! I recognize him!" and vote
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I'd say the GameFAQs cutoff date is 2006.
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Seeing Castlevania finally doing something was so, so sweet this contest

Thank you Smash, Netflix, and PS4 SotN/RoB re-release
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Division 6: (5)Sans vs (12)Pac-Man

(5)Sans - 8571 [28.62%]
(12)Pac-Man - 21380 [71.38%]
Total Votes - 29951
Prediction Percentage - 53.41%

If Monika and L-Block getting their asses whipped didn't prove it already, this match cemented the point home in hilarious fashion. This contest was a contest where people openly revolted against rallybait characters. Some people had real fears of Sans winning this contest, but I said this before: Undertale is the new Portal. It had its moment, but it will never have a repeat performance even though it should be strong enough to make contests moving forward. I took Pac-Man here without thinking, but I didn't in my wildest dreams see this one coming. If we had a games contest in the winter of 2007 following L-Block's run, I have no doubt Portal would have won it.

I hesitate to really call this a Smash Boost, because does anyone really care enough about Pac-Man to care if he's in Smash? I'm sure it's helped, but has it helped him as much as it's helped Samus, Simon Belmont, Cloud, or Snake? I doubt it. I also know the stats topic made up the Isaac Fodder Line, but I kind of like calling it the Pac-Man Fodder Line. Pac is the ultimate overlap apathy character. Everyone knows who he is, he's only capable of beating garbage, and anyone of any strength will destroy him. I feel obligated to remind people here that Pac-Man once lost to Nathan Drake.

And for all those reasons, THIS MATCH WAS HIGH COMEDY. This was like a rerun to the 2002 glory days when Pac was breaking 70% on fools before Scorpion hooked him. But the guy Pac was breaking 70 on this time around was the most popular character from Undertale, the game that shattered our web site 3 years ago and proved what insufferable manchildren the anti-rally crybabies are. And then all those same people made Reddit accounts and begged for votes during every close match this year. I've let a lot go this year, but the hypocrisy of the anti-rally weirdos is really something else. Those people are just as bad as democrats and all their whining since the 2016 election. I was allowing myself one political reference in this PCA and only one, and it was always going to be aimed at the anti-rally people being as bad as democrats. Might as well put it here in a match PCA that won't be remembered in a year just so it's archived somewhere, you know? But you people are never, ever living that one down until you admit you only like rallying when it benefits a character you like. It's okay to think that, truly, but don't lie about it.

And the funniest thing of all about this match? It wasn't close to being the biggest embarrassment for rallybait characters this year. Sans losing this match this badly is bad for him and Undertale, no doubts about it, but there was someone else looming that was about to have his own axes boomerang backwards and pretty much decapitate his entire legacy in one hilarious 24 hour time frame.
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snake_5036 posted...

Seeing Castlevania finally doing something was so, so sweet this contest

Thank you Smash, Netflix, and PS4 SotN/RoB re-release

I have the platinum trophy in that game. It did nothing for Simon, for obvious reasons.

And fuck Richter Belmont. Can I throw that out there? Maria Renard > that punk.
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Simon is an interesting case, because he's been out of the public eye for a long time. He definitely gets respect as a video gaming icon of sorts, but he's so irrelevant that it doesn't translate to any sort of strength. On top of that, his only good picture was his sprite, and we don't see those until later rounds if he's lucky. Who the hell identifies that red headed goober as Simon Belmont?

Still, the guy does have the iconic Belmont name, and Alucard is proof that Castlevania does means something around here, so the guy just needed something to become relevant, and a re-design that conjures of the image of Super Castlevania IV, a game that probably could do half decent in a Games Contest if it could make the cut.

Enter Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and it stands to reason that Simon would have more to gain from Smash than most characters would. Very few characters, save for complete unknowns, could make that gain, but Simon's old school respect is what helped make his boost that much more potent. Also, he was seeded against Hayabusa, a character who also leaned on a re-design, but now lacks the relevancy he had back when he got his makeover.

I took Simon to win the eight pack, and even though he didn't, I feel like it wasn't a bad call in retrospect.
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_SecretSquirrel posted...

I took Simon to win the eight pack, and even though he didn't, I feel like it wasn't a bad call in retrospect.

I did the same thing. I expected a much bigger boost bc I was blinded by Castlevania nostalgia (it was one of the first 3 series I played) and I was bopping to Castlevania music almost every day until Smash released lmao. At least Alucard made up for it!
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_SecretSquirrel posted...

Simon is an interesting case, because he's been out of the public eye for a long time. He definitely gets respect as a video gaming icon of sorts, but he's so irrelevant that it doesn't translate to any sort of strength. On top of that, his only good picture was his sprite, and we don't see those until later rounds if he's lucky. Who the hell identifies that red headed goober as Simon Belmont?

Still, the guy does have the iconic Belmont name, and Alucard is proof that Castlevania does means something around here, so the guy just needed something to become relevant, and a re-design that conjures of the image of Super Castlevania IV, a game that probably could do half decent in a Games Contest if it could make the cut.

Enter Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and it stands to reason that Simon would have more to gain from Smash than most characters would. Very few characters, save for complete unknowns, could make that gain, but Simon's old school respect is what helped make his boost that much more potent. Also, he was seeded against Hayabusa, a character who also leaned on a re-design, but now lacks the relevancy he had back when he got his makeover.

I took Simon to win the eight pack, and even though he didn't, I feel like it wasn't a bad call in retrospect.

None of those 8 characters was a bad call pre-contest.
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Division 6 Round 1: (4)Bayonetta vs (13)Riku

(4)Bayonetta - 19289 [64.4%]
(13)Riku - 10665 [35.6%]
Total Votes - 29954
Prediction Percentage - 70.84%

Remember how I said during the Geralt round 1 writeup that a case could be made for any of the top half of this division winning three matches? Well count me in as one of the morons who thought Riku could win three times. Good hell. I did eventually change my mind and picked a Geralt/Auron final, but even looking back on what I almost chose there is so embarrassing. I ended up picking Riku to win twice, and I didn't think the logic was that bad, either!

Right before this contest, a massive Kingdom Hearts 3 hype video came out. If ever there was a time for Riku and Sora to go on a tear in a contest, this would be the year. Pair that with Bayonetta being the most hated character in Smash Bros history, and it was a recipe for success. Plus I like the dude's character arc. Sue me.

Oh and I'm not joking about Bayonetta being the most hated character in Smash history, either. She has Kirby/Pikachu/Ness from 64, Sheik and Fox from Melee, and Meta Knight from Brawl completely and totally beat. Bayonetta in Smash 4 might legitimately be the most hated character in fighting game history (Smash is a fighting game, fuck off), and it frankly might not be close. People who play her in tournaments get death threats, which says a lot about how dumb the Smash fans are but I digress. Only Akuma from SF2 compares, and he required a complicated code to unlock and was banned from tournaments anyway.

I can't do this justice with words. I'll let the pros handle that subject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gilsv3c4-7I" data-time="

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3RzgNS-pWw" data-time="

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e0BVxl3gGE" data-time="

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MkKxGgARnI" data-time="

When you factor all that together, Riku deserved to win. And then on a personal level, when you factor in music it isn't close. Music in games means a lot to me, and if your music is bad I grade you down pretty hard. I'm sure Bayonetta's games are fine. Haven't played them yet, but if they're anything like DMC3, and by all accounts they are, then they're ok. I mean Lady Gaga likes those games, and she would never support anything that's totally dumb like radicalized feminism, right?

Oh.

But to the point. Every. Single. Song in those games is objectively trash. All of them. It's the singular reason I haven't played those games yet. I can't actually listen to any of it without wanting my ears sewn shut. I'm sure Bayonetta actually deserves her contest strength, but she's probably be on Link's level if we could get rid of that laughably awful pair of soundtracks. And I usually like that style of music, too. It's on the level of The World Ends With You for worst soundtrack ever.

This win was convincing enough to make it look like she would make it to Auron, and from there, who knows? No one else in the top half of this division looked all that good in round one, outside Pac-Man but we all know he's fool's gold.
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I also dont like Bayos music from what I heard in VGMC and Smash
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@Ulti_PCA

I'm late, but this is important: Cultural Marxism did NOT have 'good origins' or anything of the sort. It's a term directly descended from Cultural Bolshevism, used by the nazis to censor thoughts opposed to their genocidal beliefs. I can explain this in more detail if you need to be convinced, but it is not a term that is worth using and it cannot be salvaged. It comes from a completely poisoned well and its intrinsically linked to said well. We can disagree on a lot of things, but I think we can agree that nazi buzzword terms under a new guise can fuck right off. Please do not use them.
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Ulti I very much appreciate your write up for Captain Toad, truly it captured how I made literally every topic about the good Captain.

Even Allen's attempt at sabotage could not stop Captain Toad
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Logience posted...

Who is Nick?

Anyways, Shovel Knight is basically what Mega Man would play like if he had a pogo stick instead of a Buster Shot.

...Oh wait.

Who indeed
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how the hell does this guy write so much about every match
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kh music isnt good
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Wow, a write-up of a contest match with a KH character where Ulti didn't rant against Nomura.
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_Dog_ posted...

Wow, a write-up of a contest match with a KH character where Ulti didn't rant against Nomura.

He usually saves them for Sora and Lightning. Im heavily doubting that hell bring it up for Aqua, either. Especially since her matches have a way more entertaining topic on hand.

@KanzarisKelshen (Oh sweet irony)
If youre looking to disprove the term, I think the first place to start would be to address Ulti saying that the term originated in Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution. Hes not just gonna believe it if you just leave it at saying it was a Nazi term.
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NFUN posted...

kh music isnt good

Lets not say things we cant take back.
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shimomura isnt particulary good either
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NFUN posted...

shimomura isnt particulary good either

Well, arent we dedicated to living up to our username.
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kh is a bad series in every aspect
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NFUN posted...

kh is a bad series in every aspect

Man I'm banned from discussing KH in 3 different Discords because I hate it so much, and even I recognize a lot of the music is decent.
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NFUN posted...

shimomura isnt particulary good either

B-b-but... Guile's Theme goes with everything!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du6YLbTyGPw" data-time="
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_Dog_ posted...

NFUN posted...

shimomura isnt particulary good either

B-b-but... Guile's Theme goes with everything!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du6YLbTyGPw" data-time="

she has some great tracks. guile's theme, and dark impetus from bbs for example. but as a whole i'm pretty unimpressed with her collective work. she is rarely outright bad, but she doesnt usually do it for me at all
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Ulti_PCA posted...

I also know the stats topic made up the Isaac Fodder Line, but I kind of like calling it the Pac-Man Fodder Line. Pac is the ultimate overlap apathy character. Everyone knows who he is, he's only capable of beating garbage, and anyone of any strength will destroy him. I feel obligated to remind people here that Pac-Man once lost to Nathan Drake.

I feel like Pac-Man has done enough to be given the benefit of the doubt at this point. He's at, what, 42% on Auron extrapolated and there's only so much bandwagon-fueled overperforming Geralt could have managed against Auron. Certainly, at least in this format, he's not the fodder line in the sense that Vyse was in 2003-04.
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Kirby nooooooooo
My favorite since Smash 64
What happened to you why are you the lowest tier
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Tbh Kirby might only be like the fourth best character in Smash 64

And Pikachu is unanimously top and he always has been pretty decent
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Man this division hurt bad. I had Sans > Hayabusa getting to the division finals. I'm still shocked that all the shitty ancillary shit-tier Smash characters (Rosalina, Pac-Man, Bayonetta, Belmont) were so strong this year. Even more surprising was how strong Geralt ended up being. I figured he'd be on the same level of 'generic open-world third-person protagonist' as Aloy and the Assasins Creed clowns.
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