Board 8 > C/D If this is Pokemon Sun or Pokemon Sword instead of Pokemon HG, it would win

(+) Yeah! (+)

HG came out in 2010, it's barely in this decade, people had forgotten about it because of Sun and Sword

Sword/Shield would have lost to Nier.

---

HGSS are remakes of games that practically all Pokemon fans loved.

Sun/Moon and Sword/Shield are very divisive and no they would have even less of a chance at winning. They wouldn't even have made it this far.

Evidence: They weren't even good enough to make it into the contest in the first place.

---

HG/SS are much more beloved by the community than S/M or S/S. Particularly the GameFAQs community.

---

a big aspect of Pokemons power here is nostalgia which HG/SS benefits from and the others would not
---

seriously, if people forgot about it in favor of the newer games... then the newer games would be in. "Forgetting about" games only matters for nominations because you'll be reminded about them when voting!

---

If this were either of those we'd probably be looking at an easy 60-40 in Skyrim's favor at least

both of those games were incredibly divisive while the worst a lot of people would say about HGSS is that it's a remake and arguably shouldn't have a spot here

for real though where's gen 5

---

If it was Sword/Shield it would have struggled to make it past round 2 imo

God no, if anything Pokemon Sword/Shield is dragging the entire series down.

---

Skyrim beats it. Now if it were red, blue and yellow...

---

The only one that I think comes close is Black/White. Maybe X and Y.

However, Skyrim most likely beats regular GSC. The only Pokmon that beats it is RBY.


---

ScepterOfLove posted...

If it was Sword/Shield it would have struggled to make it past round 2 imo

Do you honestly think Sword and Shield would have struggled with Rayman
---

Hbthebattle posted...

Do you honestly think Sword and Shield would have struggled with Rayman

I saw a pretty good description of Sword/Shield in a Twitch chat once: People who don't like Pokemon don't like the game. People who like Pokemon like the game. People who LOVE Pokemon HATE the game.

When a large part of the series's core fanbase actively hates a game like that, things could easily get very ugly. Sword/Shield would get anti-voted HARD.


---

it would get anti voted but wouldn't lose to rayman of all things

it'd get curbstomped by Nier in round 3 though.

Anclation posted...

People who like Pokemon like the game. People who LOVE Pokemon HATE the game.

Not sure this is true. I see a lot of super fans who love the new games. While it's mostly the more sensible types, the "been with pokemon since childhood and now I'm 30 and just want to see new ideas instead of the same formula gradually getting worse" fans who are clearly displeased with the direction the recent games have taken.

---

Lightning Strikes posted...

The only one that I think comes close is Black/White. Maybe X and Y.

However, Skyrim most likely beats regular GSC. The only Pokmon that beats it is RBY.

X and Y would possibly be the weakest games in the series

---

What even are these poll results? Are people just sticking their heads in the ground, or is this the work of the same mysterious stuffer who loves hijacking Nick's polls? As several others have said by now, S/M and Sw/Sh are highly divisive, especially the latter, and they certainly don't have the playrates (or any other factor, for that matter) to compensate.

Hbthebattle posted...

Do you honestly think Sword and Shield would have struggled with Rayman

I do think it's very possible, yes. We still haven't seen what happens to a major Nintendo game that's predominantly hated in a contest setting, so all bets are off until then.

Lightning Strikes posted...

However, Skyrim most likely beats regular GSC.

And on the other side, this is some suspect revisionism. The entire board knocks on Skyrim's weakness this contest for the first three rounds, and now that it's finally shown a bit of life, you're going to pretend it's right back to being clearly better than 44% on Melee pre-rallies? That's not even getting into how the votal erosion and doubled registered votes should have boosted GSC from 2015. Maybe Skyrim would beat GSC specifically in this contest because GSC isn't of this decade, but it doesn't seem like that's all you're implying.

---

I wouldn't really say Sword and Shield are predominantly hated. They've outsold everything but Red/Blue and Gold/Silver, which would suggest the hate isn't as prevalent as it seems since sales never really slowed down to suggest casual word of mouth was mostly negative or anything.

---

HGSS would more than double S/M or Sw/Sh

---

I don't foresee BW/XY/SM doing much better or worse than HGSS. It's been said repeatedly that the hardcore Pokemon fanbase have little effect on actual contests results, right? Why do they suddenly matter when they'd be more negative. I think all three of these games beat Nier and then get 60-40d by Skyrim. HGSS may be a little stronger due to GSC but probably not that much.
---

Probably not since GameFAQs only cares about Gen 1-2 and mostly the originals of them compared to their remakes. Sword/Shield is super popular despite some vocal hatred and has outsold all of the series other than the original Gen 1-2 and Diamond/Pearl

And it most likely outsold Diamond/Pearl by now since it was only down like 300,000 at the end of March and sales have been ramping up a bit because of the DLC coming.

---

StealThisSheen posted...

I wouldn't really say Sword and Shield are predominantly hated. They've outsold everything but Red/Blue and Gold/Silver, which would suggest the hate isn't as prevalent as it seems since sales never really slowed down to suggest casual word of mouth was mostly negative or anything.

Well, I figured the implication of "among GameFAQs voters" in the context of a poll specifically asking about hypothetical GameFAQs contest polls was obvious enough that it didn't need to be stated. Of course the bulk of Pokmon players don't hate Sword and Shield, but the bulk of Pokmon players are hardly represented among the subset in question here.

Hbthebattle posted...

It's been said repeatedly that the hardcore Pokemon fanbase have little effect on actual contests results, right? Why do they suddenly matter when they'd be more negative.

Because HGSS came out at a time when much of GameFAQs still cared about Pokmon, and the Gen 2 remake nostalgia hook is strong enough to help that demographic actually remember and care about it. It's really been more of a slow side since then through S/M due to diminishing playrates, though I'd take even B/W to lose to Nier Automata myself.

---

LordoftheMorons posted...

HGSS would more than double S/M or Sw/Sh

It'd be complete SFF. In terms of actual contest strength, I don't foresee them doing that different. Maybe SwSh's hatebase flips the Automata result, but frankly, I doubt it
---

MetalmindStats posted...

Well, I figured the implication of "among GameFAQs voters" in the context of a poll specifically asking about hypothetical GameFAQs contest polls was obvious enough that it didn't need to be stated. Of course the bulk of Pokmon players don't hate Sword and Shield, but the bulk of Pokmon players are hardly represented among the subset in question here.

Well, to be fair, what we typically see on the Pokemon boards here on GameFAQs is a sudden surge in hate of HG/SS over the last year or so, too, so it's hard to judge.

Pokemon fans are weird here. But haters in general ultimately seem to be a vocal minority more than anything else.

---

StealThisSheen posted...

Well, to be fair, what we typically see on the Pokemon boards here on GameFAQs is a sudden surge in hate of HG/SS over the last year or so, too, so it's hard to judge.

Pokemon fans are weird here.

Its been said time and time again: What the hardcore Pokemon fanbase thinks has little effect on contest strength here. I don't see how people somehow think when the fanbase would be a negative it suddenly matters that much more
---

MetalmindStats posted...

Because HGSS came out at a time when much of GameFAQs still cared about Pokmon

Gamefaqs contest voters stopped caring about Pokemon after 2002.
---

Hbthebattle posted...

It'd be complete SFF. In terms of actual contest strength, I don't foresee them doing that different. Maybe SwSh's hatebase flips the Automata result, but frankly, I doubt it

Some of it would be SFF, but the other games would absolutely be substantially weaker than HGSS on this site.

---

Hbthebattle posted...

Gamefaqs contest voters stopped caring about Pokemon after 2002.

Pokmon entrants didn't just become cool to vote for again between 2003 and 2007 for no reason. Pokmon looked decent in the 2006 series contest, but clearly better in 2007, and D/P was the main difference-maker. The interest surge that game produced more-or-less lasted through HG/SS before starting to fade.

---

LordoftheMorons posted...

Some of it would be SFF, but the other games would absolutely be substantially weaker than HGSS on this site.

I sincerely doubt that.
---

Sword/Shield brought back so many fans who had abandoned the series for years. I'm not sure it would have been the blowout some of you think it would have. I saw so many people in their 30s who hadn't touched the series since gen 1, gen 2, or gen 3, who had a Switch now, and loved it. It was actually quite common.

---

I find it hard to believe that the other games aren't substantially weaker when HGSS can get a 2 seed and none of the other games can even make the contest. There's a ton of fodder in here, and the other games couldn't even beat them out for a spot in the bracket.
---

Sword/Shield would have been doubled by NieR: Automata

G/S/C would have been a debatable match and I might have even leaned towards Skyrim losing with recent trends. R/B/Y would likely destroy the Skyrim of today.

Now anything other than those two and you are possibly looking at the best Pokemon can do right now, right here in this match.

Surely the 40% of people who voted yes has got to be trolling. Like I mean come on, this is not some random video game's board. I was actually being generous when I said Sword/Shield would get doubled and even Sun/Moon would get a pretty ugly beating.

MetalmindStats posted...

And on the other side, this is some suspect revisionism. The entire board knocks on Skyrim's weakness this contest for the first three rounds, and now that it's finally shown a bit of life, you're going to pretend it's right back to being clearly better than 44% on Melee pre-rallies? That's not even getting into how the votal erosion and doubled registered votes should have boosted GSC from 2015. Maybe Skyrim would beat GSC specifically in this contest because GSC isn't of this decade, but it doesn't seem like that's all you're implying.

Not at all. Look at my posts, I was never down on Skyrim. The only performance that looked off was round 2, and every time that came up I pointed out that there is absolutely no way that Journey has not gotten substantially stronger, not least because it was made free to everybody with a PS4 days before the match. A third of the site have a PS4 with no PS+, and many who do have PS+ would have missed it. Of course it was going to boost, I was very clear about this. I never thought Skyrim has gotten weaker. I took The Witcher because The Witcher is a beast, not because Skyrim got weaker. So those anti-Skyrim arguments are nothing to do with me, it wasnt the entire board.

And to the second point, I have always argued that GSC is one of the most overrated games in contest history. This goes right back to GotD1 when I was one of the biggest MM>GSC proponents on the board. I never regarded that game as elite, because it isnt, and I argued against the people saying that it would beat almost the entire field this time. In fact I pointed out that it would probably rank lower here than in GOTD1, which I stand by. To that issue I have raised the point that GotD1 GSC is likely overrated due to MMs bandwagon and rallies. Skyrim would have beaten GSC in 2015 (which was possibly overrated there too) and I have never believed that would not still be the case, and said as much recently.

This is all stuff I have been consistent about. Please dont lump me in with arguments I not only never agreed with, but actively argued against. And please do not accuse me of revisionism. I have made a bunch of bad calls, Im not trying to big myself up here. But seeing through GSC has always been one of my strengths. In GotD1 you literally had people insisting after the match that the result made no sense and GSC was still an elite, the blinders are firmly clamped on for a lot of people regarding that game. So give me some credit!

---

Anclation posted...

When a large part of the series's core fanbase actively hates a game like that, things could easily get very ugly. Sword/Shield would get anti-voted HARD.

people always massively overestimate how much "hate" and "anti votes" are a factor.

---

Lightning Strikes posted...

So those anti-Skyrim arguments are nothing to do with me, it wasnt the entire board.

Well ok, I just think it's weird to think Skyrim hasn't gotten any weaker since 2015 even now, let alone when it was looking absolutely dire after last round. 59% on HGSS just doesn't measure up to 59% on GoldenEye.

Lightning Strikes posted...

And to the second point, I have always argued that GSC is one of the most overrated games in contest history.

I'll agree with you that GSC isn't and in fact has never had elite strength, and that Skyrim would have beaten it in 2015. The problem is that it's not 2015 anymore. That 44% on Melee translates into 63% on Portal, and I have a hard time buying Mario Kart 8 being comfortably ahead of Portal. I have an even harder time buying anything Nintendo losing a really close match to Skyrim at this point.

Lightning Strikes posted...

This is all stuff I have been consistent about. Please dont lump me in with arguments I not only never agreed with, but actively argued against. And please do not accuse me of revisionism.

I apologize for lumping you in with the crowd here. I didn't realize you had a consistent outlying opinion on Skyrim the whole time, so that's my bad.

---

There were definitely more people arguing that Journey and Mario Kart 8 would be stronger and still picked Skyrim to get to top 4 in the second chance brackets. I for one have been asked quite a few times this contest why I couldn't just accept Skyrim being weaker instead of making excuses for it >_> But I still defended it fully as laste as when writing my crew guest write-up a day ago.

I did however seem overestimate Pokemon lol, but not because I thought Skyrim was significantly weaker. I assumed Pokemon would somehow manage to keep it close enough to outdo what Dark Souls will do the following round. I'm usually not too great about predicting Pokemon things, I'll admit. RBY being the sole exception.

And as for the topic question, I think it's pretty darn clear that our site doesn't care much for new Pokemon games that much, HGSS was definitely the best option.

---

MetalmindStats posted...

We still haven't seen what happens to a major Nintendo game that's predominantly hated in a contest setting

https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/(7)Halo_3_vs_(10)Super_Mario_Sunshine_2010

But hey, maybe a polarizing Pokemon game would do better for some reason. Who knows?
---

I think GSC would have done a bit better than HB, but not enought to beat Skyrim.

Steiner posted...

people always massively overestimate how much "hate" and "anti votes" are a factor.

These contests don't have massive vote totals anymore, they're pretty much restricted to core gamers, and regular GameFAQs users play a huge party in deciding the outcome. How many games in this contest that got past Round 1 have the kind of cruddy user score on this site that Sword/Shield has?

Xeybozn posted...

https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/(7)Halo_3_vs_(10)Super_Mario_Sunshine_2010

But hey, maybe a polarizing Pokemon game would do better for some reason. Who knows?

And hell, I'd argue Sunshine is more accurately described as polarizing than hated, while Sword/Shield is closer to being outright hated.

---

Shonen_Bat posted...

If this were either of those we'd probably be looking at an easy 60-40 in Skyrim's favor at least

both of those games were incredibly divisive while the worst a lot of people would say about HGSS is that it's a remake and arguably shouldn't have a spot here

for real though where's gen 5

Agreed. I was expecting Gen 5. Also wouldn't have been surprised if ORAS made it on nostalgia as well, since I checked and it turned out Gen 3 actually had the longest life span everywhere except Japan (where it was Gen 4).

---

Another strike against Sword/Shield: It obviously doesn't have that many people who really love it:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7830-best-of-2019-switch

When looking at those results, keep in mind how 3 Houses got absolutely demolished by Xenoblade. This is not a strong field in terms of GameFAQs contests.

So you have a game that a lot of people (core series fans at that) hate, and not a lot of people love. Hell yeah I could see it losing to Rayman, given how S/S basically became one of the symbols of what was wrong with gaming in 2019.

---

Anclation posted...

These contests don't have massive vote totals anymore, they're pretty much restricted to core gamers, and regular GameFAQs users play a huge party in deciding the outcome.

The regular gamefaqs users who have made it clear that everything past gen 2 is the same for them?
---

Hbthebattle posted...

The regular gamefaqs users who have made it clear that everything past gen 2 is the same for them?

Check the user score for the various mainline Pokemon releases after Gen 2. How many other mainline Pokemon games, or games in this contest, barely break 3/5?

---

Anclation posted...

Check the user score for the various mainline Pokemon releases after Gen 2. How many other mainline Pokemon games, or games in this contest, barely break 3/5?

That's not really a great point considering there's less than 1700 ratings for Pokemon Sword (less than 700 for Shield). It's easy for that "vocal minority" to tank ratings on this site, especially since there's no real protection against it.

---

HashtagSEP posted...

That's not really a great point considering there's less than 1700 ratings for Pokemon Sword (less than 700 for Shield). It's easy for that "vocal minority" to tank ratings on this site, especially since there's no real protection against it.

It shows that the game has a much bigger Hatedom than previous low-tier Pokemon games at the very least. I for one do think it's notable that Sword/Shield has a worse user score than Metroid: Other M, and a comparable score to Paper Mario: Sticker Star.

And given the game's reputation, why would a Neutral (somebody who hasn't played it) vote for it against any game in this contest, which (Death Stranding, Undertale and Overwatch aside) is way less toxic?

---

You could ask why people would buy it despite its reputation, and yet it's now the third best selling set of games in the series. The answer is the hate doesn't really reach the average, neutral person.

It certainly wouldn't do better than HG/SS, but it wouldn't do much worse than any of the other non-HG/SS games, if at all.

---

HashtagSEP posted...

You could ask why people would buy it despite its reputation, and yet it's now the third best selling set of games in the series. The answer is the hate doesn't really reach the average, neutral person.

The average game consumer isn't voting in these polls, hence why tons of extremely commercially successful games flop badly in these polls, like Overwatch and Fortnite. I see no reason to not expect that Pokemon Sword/Shield would be another extremely successful game that would get anti-voted into oblivion.

---