Board 8 > The top 10 "what if" questions in GameFAQs contests history

(+) Yeah! (+)

And yeah, I always heard Cloud/Mario was on the day of Sunshine's release, but I wasn't here.

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what if we actually got the quote contest

what a magnificent timeline such would be

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Radix posted...

what if we actually got the quote contest

what a magnificent timeline such would be

oh man here's an underrated what if

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site traffic dies just that much quicker

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So I'm assuming Number One is "WI Cloud doesn't beat Link?",

The Question is which is Number Two: "WI Magus doesn't overperform against Link?" seems like a good choice. Or just straight up "WI Ganondorf beats Magus?" as that might be easier to change, as the former is still a bit of a mystery.

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eh that honestly doesn't change that much, we just learn Magus sucks sooner and him losing to Knuckles isn't the shocker it became

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Yesmar I think your pick for #1 has gotta be it. As for your #2 pick, eh, that one seems a little more like something that should've been down around the 8 or 9 mark.

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I thought about The Boost, but that seems more "What If GameFAQS voters had completely different tastes?"

'06 being split by Male/Female is actually kind of important in the sense that the complaints about the contest "being boring" probably led to 4-ways, even though the issues with '06 had nothing to do with it being 1v1. That's not going to be ahead of 4 ways themselves though.

WI Mario and Samus are on opposite ends of the bracket in '05 might be #2 as well. I seem to recall transience ranking that as one of the most important matches of all time, so that might be up there. Samus probably beats Crono though, so the match happens anyway.

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UltimaterializerX posted...

This is tran we're talking about. #1 is Chrono Trigger.

I mean he already did that one

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while Chrono Trigger is my contest hero, it isnt close to my favorite game in these contests!

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so #1 is "what if FFIV were the popular game instead of FFVII"

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"What if FF5 got a proper English release in the 90s?"
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Fun one I just thought of: What if the Smash announcements for Sonic and Snake had been the other way around? (That is, Sonic gets announced at E3 before the 2006 contest and Snake is randomly announced on the Smash Dojo during the 2007 contest.) Does Snake the same a long-term boost without the big surprise Smash reveal? Does Sonic win 2006's male bracket, and does he still suck in the 4-way contests (or even do worse in '07 without the mid-contest boost)?
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Xeybozn posted...

Fun one I just thought of: What if the Smash announcements for Sonic and Snake had been the other way around? (That is, Sonic gets announced at E3 before the 2006 contest and Snake is randomly announced on the Smash Dojo during the 2007 contest.) Does Snake the same a long-term boost without the big surprise Smash reveal? Does Sonic win 2006's male bracket, and does he still suck in the 4-way contests (or even do worse in '07 without the mid-contest boost)?

This one is actually pretty cool, and I do think it gives Sonic a legit shot at winning the male half in 2006.

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I think Sonic would have a good shot at it. His only real competition would still be Snake because he was already dead even with Crono and Mega Man in 2006 anyway. You have to remember that Snake's boost wasn't all Brawl. He got a lot of hype from the MGS4 reveal trailer at E3 2006, too. I don't think Sonic hits the same heights as Snake did with just a Brawl announcement, although he might be stronger than he is now.

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As the one who first (I think) proposed the "What if Magus's 2003 went differently?" idea I don't think it could possibly be #2 here. That's the kind of idea that, had it made it, I would have expected to sneak in on the bottom of the list at like 10 or 9.

The Sonic/Snake flip is a more intriguing idea but I still don't know if it's second place material... but then I have no idea what it might be so maybe...!

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I think it's obvious that Sonic wouldn't boost as much as Snake did because Nintendo fans were much more likely to already be Sonic fans than they were to be Metal Gear fans. With a smaller natural boost, I could see Sonic winning the '06 male bracket then getting upset out of nowhere in 2007 instead of 2008. Imagine Sonic finishing dead last in the L-Block/Snake/Squall match because there's no mid-contest announcement to save him, only it's even more embarrassing because Sonic would have been the easy first-place pick pre-contest.
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Xeybozn posted...

Imagine Sonic finishing dead last in the L-Block/Snake/Squall match because there's no mid-contest announcement to save him, only it's even more embarrassing because Sonic would have been the easy first-place pick pre-contest.

if only

2007 was Squall's best chance to beat a Noble Niner and it makes me sad he may never be strong enough to do it again

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2. What if the 2000s game contests didn't do division by era?

This has to be the greatest mistake in contest history. Division by era has made the contests significantly more predictable. It's a lot easier to predict, say, Mario 3 vs. Zelda 1 than Mario World vs. Twilight Princess.

I actually don't mind it too much in 2004 since, like 2007, it's the first contest of its kind. It was already unpredictable enough to throw a bunch of games into a bracket. Besides, division by era did manage to give us a few good clusters of matchups, especially division 128. Starcraft probably doesn't go on its run if it had faced a classic as opposed to lukewarm titles like Halo, Kingdom Hearts and Wind Waker. But did we need to see Phantasy Star vs. Contra or Donkey Kong vs. Duck Hunt? Sure, the latter was a really close matchup. But it's more in line with the kinds of matches we see these days, where they're pretty competitive but not actually contributing to the later rounds in any way.

But 2009. That contest is an unforced error. Not only did we have fourways, but we also have division by era. Pokemon RBY almost made the list on its own because of how bad this was: here we had a newcomer that was suddenly a top 5 game without any external forces, and it gets put into the worst bracket position possible: riding alongside another Pokemon game against Majora and Metal Gear, winning that and then having to deal with Ocarina the rest of the way. It managed to make the quarterfinals and nearly the semifinals despite a completely hopeless matchup with Ocarina, Melee and FFX. What would have happened if we had gotten Pokemon RBY in a fourpack with, say, Final Fantasy Tactics, Mario RPG and MGS3? It could have really broken some brackets.

There are so many examples of wasted potential in 2009. Super Metroid gets fed to LTTP again, Goldeneye still can't get an honest matchup, a goofy LTTP/FF7/FF6/Mario 64 matchup that is so much less than the sum of its parts. We never got an honest game contest during the site's prime and it's honestly a contest tragedy. What wins, Melee or Mario 3? Does Zelda 1 beat Metal Gear Solid? Does FF8 beat Metroid Prime? These things wouldn't be answered until 2015, and even that contest has integrity issues for obvious reasons (not to mention how much time has passed since those games were in their primes). It sucks! Game contests should be the dominant contest here, and character battles are just better because we didn't have dumb restrictions on them.

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Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, given how 2004 turned out, I'm totally okay with not changing how that happened.

But 2009 was just ughhhhhhhhhhh (though 4ways hurt it more than division by era for me but the latter was absolutely the more "why" decision)

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Mario 1 is the most screwed entry in contest history.

First it being unable to beat Halo 1 was used as an excuse for division by era, then it gets kept out of 2015 because 'UHH BAD METACRITIC SCORE'.

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WarThaNemesis2 posted...

Mario 1 is the most screwed entry in contest history.

sonic 3 & knuckles

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Yeah, Mario 1 getting left out of 2015 because of review scores is pretty inexcusable.

And I'll never forget S3&K.

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After every Sonic game bombed I feel like it's a blessing in disguise that S3&K was kept out. We can pretend it would definitely not have gotten smoked by Super Mario Kart.

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And I'll keep pretending!

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Leonhart4 posted...

Yeah, Mario 1 getting left out of 2015 because of review scores is pretty inexcusable.

This actively annoy me every time I think of it. Especially because Allen had the guts to tell us it was in the top 100 nominations before showing the field.

Also that it would've had a fantastic meta critic score if it existed.

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I dont think my #1 has been mentioned yet and Im honestly surprised

but then, I might be thinking about these differently than others. what if a character did better or wasnt overrated isnt something I really consider.

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What if some of the regulars that got left out of 2002 got in?

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transcience posted...

I dont think my #1 has been mentioned yet and Im honestly surprised

but then, I might be thinking about these differently than others. what if a character did better or wasnt overrated isnt something I really consider.

What if there was no company cap in 2004? Also what if he hadn't made the bracket SFF-heavy?

Serge could've made a contest when he wouldn't have totally sucked!

Also what if Heroic Mario was right about Mega Man Anniversary Collection letting Mega Man beat Link? Never forget.

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Oh I think I know the #1.

"What if characters from outside video games were allowed in?"

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I can't remember if transience was for that or against that, but it's a good guess!

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What if there was no ToC/Battle Royale?

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What if winners were permanently retired?

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What if there was no board?

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WHAT IF DRAGON QUEST BEAT SMASH BROTHERS because thats the right result

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What if Deus Ex won by enough?

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What if Gordon Freeman Always Won?

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What if there was no Fun Entry?

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1. What if we actually got Mario vs. Sonic?

It has to be the most common refrain across 18 years of contests. We've been asking it since 2003, when Shadow the Hedgehog took the form of a Sonic clone against Mario and put up an improbable 45%, overrating Tidus and himself in the process. Mario went under the Oracle prediction by a full 15% here. What happens if the most famous rivalry in video games actually happened?

Let's talk about how improbable it is that this never happened. There are 36 possible combinations of Noble Nine matchups, and of those, we haven't gotten... 2. One is Sephiroth vs. Crono, and one is Mario vs. Sonic. It almost feels intentional. Remember: one of the most popular nominations of the Rivalry Rumble was Mario vs. Sonic, and even that got denied by the administration.

What happens if we get this matchup? Well, Mario wins now, in 2020. We got Mario World vs. Sonic 2 and that may as well have been a SFF matchup. But as characters? That's a whole different ballgame, and Shadow proves it. If Shadow, a fairly unlikable Sonic side character, can get 45%, what does the OG get?

It's much too late to resolve this now. But it has to be the biggest open question in contest history.

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What if CJayC never gave the site to SBAllen?

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Eh.... that's a pretty weak #1 IMO. Even at his weakest, I don't think Mario has ever truly been weaker than Sonic at any given time, even though Sonic finished ahead of him in the X-Stats once or twice.

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I'm honestly not sure if Shadow overperformed that much against Mario. A percentage point or two, but that match against Wario the round before was legit.

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Yeah, I think 03-04 Shadow was really just that strong.

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I think 2003 Shadow was a mixture of legit and Mario just getting anti-voted in the early years. I don't think he dropped so much between 2003 and 2004 to lose to Tidus.

But yeah, Mario/Sonic never happening is weird. Part of me still thinks Sonic would hold up well.

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it's hard to say. Sonic would seemingly lose to like 15 guys now. but Mario is a unique matchup for sure.

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transience posted...

1. What if we actually got Mario vs. Sonic?

Mario wins easily no matter when you run it pretty much
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OrangeCrush980 posted...

Mario wins easily no matter when you run it pretty much

Yeah, but would Mario just flatten him or would Sonic somehow overperform? Either way, I can't see it as a match that just goes according to the X-Stats. There's just something special about it.

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