Board 8 > How would they do in a contest? Day 595 ft Nights, Enguarde, Machamp

(+) Yeah! (+)

This is a topic to rate the contest strength of potential newcomers in the current contest environment.

I will pick the characters to rate and discuss for each day from user nominations - whoever the 3 most nominated characters are at that time. If there are more than 3 I will pick randomly. You can nominate any number of characters at any time, but you cannot nominate the same character twice.

All characters who were present in the 2018 Character Battle will NOT be eligible. Otherwise you can nominate any character that has appeared in video games; even comic book characters. This will exclude real-life athletes who have only appeared in long running sports series, however I will accept those who have their own games such as Shaq. I will accept nominations for iconic gaming duos too, if there is a compelling reason for both characters to be linked (either co-starring in a game ala Banjo & Kazooie, or always appearing together like Callie & Marie from Splatoon).

Each day will have a separate topic, and nominations will carry over. As far as actually rating the character's contest strength; I ask that users rank a characters potential strength with one of the following qualifiers - LAW Fodder, Low Fodder, Mid Fodder, High Fodder, Fodder Line, Low Midcarder, Midcarder, High Midcarder, Near Elite, Elite, LAW Tier (capable of beating Link). I will average all the ratings given to a character to come up with their final ranking. I have included a highlighted entrant from Character Battle X on each tier of the strength rankings below, to provide a baseline for each.

Note that LAW Fodder is meant to be a tier reserved for the weakest possible characters to put into a contest. A character will only be placed there if at least 3/4ths of the voters for that day agree on the LAW Fodder rating, and no ratings above Low Fodder are given. If either of those conditions are not met, the character will not be eligible for the LAW Fodder tier.

Current Character Strength Rankings: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P1AIhHywBiLd6VAMZMNEGX-HW2td8u1D0Iw_tzHsORw/edit?usp=sharing

Nomination List: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-KnSBDzppzPK5Ug1zmx8_x0bG4tqFDMPPH2k8J3s8sk/edit?usp=sharing

If you feel that a character has been over or under-ranked, or if a new development has come up that would affect their contest strength, you may nominate them for a re-ranking. You may nominate one character per day for this, and 3 votes are needed to get them on the slate. One character with 3 votes will come up for re-ranking today.

Re-ranking Nomination List: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V6dx-tu-FD1rCxbX69eQwEzE7x1F6nNRNFochYHu1dc/edit?usp=sharing

Results from Day 594:

Killer Croc (DC Comics) is Low Fodder
Ryudo (Grandia 2) is Low Fodder
Dratini (Pokemon) is Low Fodder

Here is today's trio to rank:

Nights (Nights into Dreams...)
Enguarde the Swordfish (Donkey Kong Country)
Machamp (Pokemon)

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Nights (Nights into Dreams...) - Low fodder
Feels like a character that might punch marginally punch above their game's meager playrate thanks to Sega exposure here and there? But probably at least close to LAW.

Enguarde the Swordfish (Donkey Kong Country) - Low fodder
Rambi was likely stronger to begin with but probably isn't that special himself and unlike Engarde, he's had notable appearances more recent than Donkey Kong 64. We've seen what Donkey Kong did when that was his most recent big game and it was seldom at all impressive. Clearly not LAW though, you know who this is if you remember any DKC game.

Machamp (Pokemon) - Low fodder
From what I remember the Machop line wasn't very good in RBY, don't have much reason to be popular in general outside maybe being buff but gamefaqs is WAY the wrong place for that, and Machamp in particular requires a trade evolution. Bruno has one but it's not really hard to handle.

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I'll give Machamp Mid Fodder. Yes it was a fighting type in Gen 1 which automatically made it NU, but it was more than usable in generations beyond that. It's a trade evo but I think being Bruno's ace combined with being a four armed buff mon will push it over to Mid.

Agree with Low Fodder for Nights and Enguarde.

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Ehh, I think I'll agree with Axem. Machamp was an effective pick in Gen. 2, it's true, and that Goldenrod City trade right in time for Whitney did make the line accessible. The problem is that it came as a Machop, so you'd have to trade it again after evolution to actually get a Machamp.

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Nominate Cacodemon (Doom)

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second Cacodemon

Day 596 is up: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79287393

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