Board 8 > Suppose the next character battle was the same time next year

(+) Yeah! (+)

I feel like at the very least, this could expose old people like me to some new and interesting characters, while also being fairly unpredictable.

What say you?
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Lets get another games contest in while we're safe from rallies
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pjbasis posted...

Lets get another games contest in while we're safe from rallies

That would make more sense in 2020 for a GotD2
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I'd rather do Game of the Decade, because the fodder level on the character battle equivalent would be unreal, and it would probably just come down to 2B, so it wouldn't even have unpredictability on its side.
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_SecretSquirrel posted...

I'd rather do Game of the Decade, because the fodder level on the character battle equivalent would be unreal, and it would probably just come down to 2B, so it wouldn't even have unpredictability on its side.

Can't do game of the decade in 2019
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Would probably be a nice mixup but I would probably know like two of the characters so I wouldn't get much out of it personally
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past... decade in a year from now?

...i think all you'd have left is 2B and like, 5 other characters. Bayonetta would just miss the cut, Gerart is even older, so hope you like Life is Strange, Persona 5, and whatever new character is in KH3 because you ain't getting much more.
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The following characters in this contest came out between 2008 and 2018...

Cuphead
Chloe Price
Lightning
Neku
Yu
Dragonborn
Primrose
Noctis
Monika
Velvet
John Marston
Neptune
2B
Cayde-6
Joel
Hat Kid
Ezio
Aloy
D. Va
Shovel Knight
Sans
Bayonetta
Lucina
Shulk
Joker
Monokuma
Isabelle
Draven
Ellie
Aqua
Quiet

If it happens next year, a few of these characters are gone as well. A contest for new characters isn't a terrible idea, but there's a ton of fodder here
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Linkle would just win instead.
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Wanglicious posted...

past... decade in a year from now?

...i think all you'd have left is 2B and like, 5 other characters. Bayonetta would just miss the cut, Gerart is even older, so hope you like Life is Strange, Persona 5, and whatever new character is in KH3 because you ain't getting much more.

I mean in theory you'd have new arrivers like an octopath character or two, some persona guys, etc. That's how you start to get people interested in new stories instead of focusing on ones they played as when they were ten.
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- I'd prefer to take 2019 off and only have a "mini" Contest if anything

- ...because we don't want to be burned out before Game of the Decade in early 2020!

- if we did restrict entrants I'd prefer to limit it to characters who missed the original 2002 Contest because they hadn't made their North American debut yet. that would let us use 2B but also Sora, Kratos, Bayonetta, Geralt, etc. and would open the door to lots of new blood that would never have a shot at the bracket otherwise


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Would Estelle be eligible, due to Trails in The Sky's North American release being in 2011? Because if so I'm in
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This would be the contest for Monika to win. Just Monika.

I'm in.
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Ngamer64 posted...

- I'd prefer to take 2019 off and only have a "mini" Contest if anything

- ...because we don't want to be burned out before Game of the Decade in early 2020!

- if we did restrict entrants I'd prefer to limit it to characters who missed the original 2002 Contest because they hadn't made their North American debut yet. that would let us use 2B but also Sora, Kratos, Bayonetta, Geralt, etc. and would open the door to lots of new blood that would never have a shot at the bracket otherwise

I posted a suggestion a few days ago for a Couples Contest, similar to Rivalry Rumble only with love interests instead of enemies/rivals.

Link/Zelda would win, of course, but the nomination process would be hilarious because not everyone's partner would be quite as clear cut as Link's.

Also, it would probably be Sora's best shot at finally taking down Squall. He got closer in Rivalry Rumble than ever before, and I feel like Rinoa would be a bigger drain on Squall than Seifer was. (Granted, Kairi isn't as strong as Riku, either, but I don't think she'd be as actively detrimental.)

But yeah, a contest for all characters to make their North American debuts after Summer 2002 could be interesting.

Also, with Board 8 controlling the nominations, Phoenix gets a 1-seed in that, right? Along with Sora and probably Kratos and Shepard, with a chance one of them gets usurped by Amaterasu or maybe even Ike?

I wonder which Pokmon would get in. The format would only ban Gen I-II, so mudkipz could make a return, but I feel like the B8 nomination rally target would be Mimikyu and it would probably do hilariously well.
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Accidentally voted "I'd be more interested" because I thought that sentence ended "in a regular bracket"

This idea sucks
Every single damn character that was created the last decade got much much weaker over time, no exceptions
Some of them that were "decent" previous contests didn't even make it this year
Like, Bioshock Infinite Elizabeth won a match and finished the next match equal to Crash
Midna, a Legend of Zelda character, beat Pac Man. Where is she now?
N from Pokemon Black/White got almost doubled by Bayonetta in a year Squirtle>Cloud happened
I can bet my life on Geralt and 2B losing at least 30% of their strength by next contest

So yes, we can have a contest in which every character is a fodder, and let the stronger win, but we had them in the past and they sucked (villains and females)
You will have 2-3 standouts that will dominate the whole thing and the rest of the matches are just whatever
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Nelson_Mandela posted...

_SecretSquirrel posted...

I'd rather do Game of the Decade, because the fodder level on the character battle equivalent would be unreal, and it would probably just come down to 2B, so it wouldn't even have unpredictability on its side.

Can't do game of the decade in 2019

I don't see a contest in '19 regardless of format.
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Ngamer64 posted...

- if we did restrict entrants I'd prefer to limit it to characters who missed the original 2002 Contest because they hadn't made their North American debut yet. that would let us use 2B but also Sora, Kratos, Bayonetta, Geralt, etc. and would open the door to lots of new blood that would never have a shot at the bracket otherwise

That's actually a solid idea, if it's a 2k2 NA release cutoff. Not only do we take out the top tiers from that contest, but also their most obvious replacements. Also, a bunch of fodder that won't go away has to (especially the, sadly, much maligned FF games). In the past I'd say there was no interest in that, but there was no interest in this year's tournament.
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I'd like just an old fashioned games contest. Last one was really good other than the rallies

Game of the decade wouldn't hold my interest
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haloiscoolisbak posted...

I'd like just an old fashioned games contest. Last one was really good other than the rallies

Game of the decade wouldn't hold my interest

I've always been fond of the idea Game of the 90s, because we could easily produce a solid field of 128 with minimal fodder. And we could totally get to do some of the cool stuff from 2015 that Undertale spoiled, like Pokemon vs. Mario World, Chrono Trigger vs. FF7, and give OoT another cushy path to the finals against whatever can get through a stacked other half of the bracket.
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Ngamer64 posted...

- I'd prefer to take 2019 off and only have a "mini" Contest if anything

- ...because we don't want to be burned out before Game of the Decade in early 2020!

I agree, a mini contest would be best for 2019 if we have a contest in 2019. But after that, we should try to get back to regular major contests again (at least one major contest per year).

SB did say that he was committed to running contests more often when he posted this topic:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/6-gamefaqs-announcements/76238326
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Consoles would be perfect for a mini contest
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_SecretSquirrel posted...

haloiscoolisbak posted...

I'd like just an old fashioned games contest. Last one was really good other than the rallies

Game of the decade wouldn't hold my interest

I've always been fond of the idea Game of the 90s, because we could easily produce a solid field of 128 with minimal fodder. And we could totally get to do some of the cool stuff from 2015 that Undertale spoiled, like Pokemon vs. Mario World, Chrono Trigger vs. FF7, and give OoT another cushy path to the finals against whatever can get through a stacked other half of the bracket.

Yeah game of the 90s would be awesome. Literally only strong entries basically. No fodder at all

Edit - suppose there would be fodder if you made it 128 games

Though it would further cement this sites reputation as stuck in the past
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I'd be up for doing them ALL if we spaced things out, along the lines of:

- early 2020: Game of the Decade

- late 2022: Games of the 90s
(former Champs FF7 and OoT saved for bonus matches at the end)

- anytime 2024: Best Game Ever to bring everything back together
(FF7, OoT, Majora, Undertale, Breath of the Wild, and the new 90s winner saved for something like the Legends bracket)


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Ngamer64 posted...

I'd be up for doing them ALL if we spaced things out, along the lines of:

- anytime 2024: Best Game Ever to bring everything back together
(FF7, OoT)

*nuclear war*
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That's so far away though
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It is. :)
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Nelson_Mandela posted...

Wanglicious posted...

past... decade in a year from now?

...i think all you'd have left is 2B and like, 5 other characters. Bayonetta would just miss the cut, Gerart is even older, so hope you like Life is Strange, Persona 5, and whatever new character is in KH3 because you ain't getting much more.

I mean in theory you'd have new arrivers like an octopath character or two, some persona guys, etc. That's how you start to get people interested in new stories instead of focusing on ones they played as when they were ten.

Young people are not going to start coming to gameFAQs, give up.

That said I might be up to it if only because there is not much things better to do in the 2019 slot.

2B would do to everyone what Link is doing to even a massively bandwagoned Zelda right now, so no, I'm definitely not interested in this idea. (Edit: And even considering the journey, everyone else is pretty uninteresting fodder.)

haloiscoolisbak posted...

Consoles would be perfect for a mini contest

Yes, but I think 2019 is too early for that because the Switch is fairly young and would be on the weaker side of consoles if we ran the contest in 2019. Maybe 2021 would be a good time to run the Consoles Contest. In 2021, the PS4 and Xbox One will be closer to the end of their life cycle and the Switch will have a much better library of games by then.

A good mini contest for 2019 would be another Best Series Ever contest, but with 64 game series instead of 32. We can definitely get through that contest in about 1 month by running multiple matches per day for the early rounds.
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It doesn't matter what year you run it, nothing after the ps2/gamecube generation and nothing before the SNES/Genesis generation is making the final
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How about a character contest where anyone who has won a match in any of the previous contests (or progressed in 2nd place in 4 way matches) is excluded from the bracket? Probably discount the rivalry contest results from this too, where some characters got gifted a win by having a strong partner.

I honestly have no idea who would be favourite to win a bracket with those restrictions actually. Guessing a joke entrant would end up winning it through rallys, or possibly a Pokemon character that hasn't made a bracket yet.

I would expect pretty low vote numbers in a lot of matches, but that's not going to be a massive drop off anyway at this stage. It would be good to see some lower tier characters have a shot for once though.

I am aware this is most likely a terrible idea, yes. It will never happen. I still prefer it to the idea in the poll though.
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Sounds.. not good
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LusterSoldier posted...

In 2021, the PS4 and Xbox One will be closer to the end of their life cycle and the Switch will have a much better library of games by then.

by 2021 we'll have PS5s so it'll be the same thing again

Best point and click adventure game?

Might be interesting to see where the LucasArts hierarchy falls, or how some other games like The Silent Age might do.
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Signs are pointing to the new Sony and Microsoft consoles launching in 2020, so I'm going to have to disagree with Luster and say the second half of 2019 would be the ideal time to run the Best System Battle.

(which for the record I don't think would be a great bracket or anything, still think it would be okay for a mini-thing)


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For a 64 game series "Best Series Ever II" contest, we can get through the contest in 27 days with the following format:

Round 1 - 4 matches per day
Round 2 - 2 matches per day
Round 3 - 2 matches per day
Round 4 and beyond - 1 match per day

This would even give us a total of 7 days dedicated to one match per day, which is good to see.

A new Best Series Ever contest with 64 game series would be interesting because some game series like Smash, Pokemon, and Elder Scrolls would be even stronger today compared to the 2006 contest. After 2006, we've also gotten new game series like Mass Effect, The Witcher, and Dark Souls.
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Not going to say Series would EXCITE me, but Final Fantasy isn't what it used to be so if we removed Champ Zelda to be the final boss battle it might make for a decent bracket.

And the match pics would certainly be sweet if we got creative freedom right from the start...


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