1. Chrono Trigger (1) 2. Resident Evil 4 (2) 3. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (3) 4. Super Mario Galaxy (4) 5. Super Mario 64 (5) 6. Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow (7) 7. Final Fantasy VII (6) 8. Final Fantasy IX (9) 9. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (8) 10. Super Mario Bros. 3 (10) 11. Super Mario World (11) 12. Super Smash Bros. Melee (12) 13. Metal Gear Solid (13) 14. Portal (16) 15. Final Fantasy VI (15) 16. Final Fantasy X (18) 17. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (19) 18. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (22) 19. Tales of Symphonia (21) 20. Paper Mario (23) 21. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (14) 22. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (17) 23. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations (24) 24. Mario Kart 64 (25) 25t. Metroid Prime (NR) 25t. The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (20)
Also receiving votes:
16 - Final Fantasy Tactics 15 - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door 11 - Okami 9 - Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal 3 - Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Not much movement in the upper half of the top 25, but we see a lot of shifting in the lower half. Yes, we managed to get a new game in the poll without losing one, thanks to OoT barely avoiding dropping off by tying Metroid Prime, which makes its return after a long hiatus.
300 - Chrono Trigger 288 - Resident Evil 4 260 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 249 - Super Mario Galaxy 238 - Super Mario 64 224 - Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow 220 - Final Fantasy VII 215 - Final Fantasy IX 214 - Super Mario Galaxy 2 199 - Super Mario Bros. 3 197 - Super Mario World 172 - Super Smash Bros. Melee 163 - Metal Gear Solid 148 - Portal 120 - Final Fantasy VI 106 - Final Fantasy X 89 - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 82 - Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest 80 - Tales of Symphonia 77 - Paper Mario 74 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 40 - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 38 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations 19 - Mario Kart 64 17 - Metroid Prime 17 - The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time 16 - Final Fantasy Tactics 15 - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door 11 - Okami 9 - Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal 3 - Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Metal Gear Solid 2 vs. SoulCalibur II Pokemon Black/White vs. #9 Super Mario Galaxy 2 #7 Final Fantasy VII vs. #23 Trials & Tribulations Kingdom Hearts II vs. Mega Man X #8 Final Fantasy IX vs. Fire Emblem 7 Okami vs. Super Mario RPG #2 Resident Evil 4 vs. Persona 4 Kingdom Hearts vs. The Wind Waker #13 Metal Gear Solid vs. #3 A Link to the Past #24 Mario Kart 64 vs. Twilight Princess
Big week for Smackdown Hotel in conference play ahead!
Yeah, Smackdown Hotel is one of the deeper conferences, likely to give at least one marquee match in any given week.
...Wow, the best match in Nintendo Objections is...SM64 vs. Suikoden II, I guess. Nintendo Objections seems like another deep conference, but it's actually kind of top-heavy and looks better to me than it actually is because a lot of the lesser members of the conference happen to be personal favorites of mine (RSE, Kirby 64, Disgaea...)
Well, no, actually, it is a deep conference. 7 of 12 games have winning records, and all of the games with winning records are 14-8 or better while three of the five games with losing records are either 10-12 or 9-13.
Hey, yeah, is War still doing Bubble Watch? Because I'm a bit curious about Suikoden II--it's got a decent overall record, but its non-conference slate seemed a bit weak and it could easily get buried by its stacked conference.
-- (This space for rent...okay, not really) [NO BARKLEY NO PEACE]
Warning: Huge list up ahead for War's Bubble Watch Analysis or whatever it's called.
Half-Life 2 Shadow of the Colossus Earthbound Banjo-Kazooie Donkey Kong Country Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Kingdom Hearts II Fallout 3 The World Ends with You BioShock
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Games of the Decades Conference) (3-20, 0-5) – 5 (13.89%) Final Fantasy VIII (Games of the Decades Conference) (16-7, 4-1) – 31 (86.11%) --What a beautiful result.
Contra (Games of the Decades Conference) (11-12, 2-3) – 18 (47.37%) Earthbound (Games of the Decades Conference) (13-10, 3-2) – 20 (52.63%) --Earthbound holds off Contra to get a much needed win.
Max Payne (Games of the Decades Conference) (3-20, 0-5) – 15 (39.47%) #22 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Games of the Decades Conference) (19-4, 4-1) – 23 (60.53%) --Huh, this was a little closer than I thought it would be.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (Games of the Decades Conference) (14-9, 3-2) – 28 (73.68%) SoulCalibur II (Games of the Decades Conference) (15-8, 2-3) – 10 (26.32%) --Huh, this was a little more one-sided than I thought it would be.
#20 Paper Mario (Games of the Decades Conference) (19-4, 5-0) – 26 (66.67%) Sonic Colors (Games of the Decades Conference) (8-15, 2-3) – 13 (33.33%) --People would rather have a Mario made of paper than a colorful Sonic.
Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal (Games of the Decades Conference) (19-4, 5-0) – 29 (78.38%) Shining Force II (Games of the Decades Conference) (5-18, 0-5) – 8 (21.62%) --G/S/C takes care of business against Shining Force II.
Banjo-Kazooie (Sonic Overload Conference) (15-8, 4-1) – 21 (55.26%) Civilization IV (Sonic Overload Conference) (13-10, 2-3) – 17 (44.74%) --Banjo-Kazooie keeps winning the matches it needs to win in conference play to stay on the bubble.
Bioshock (Sonic Overload Conference) (15-8, 3-2) – 18 (51.43%) Chrono Cross (Sonic Overload Conference) (12-11, 2-3) – 17 (48.57%) --Chrono Cross almost got the upset, but Bioshock held it off.
Final Fantasy Tactics (Sonic Overload Conference) (19-4, 5-0) – 27 (69.23%) Sonic CD (Sonic Overload Conference) (4-19, 1-4) – 12 (30.77%) --FFT stays unbeaten in conference with a blowout of Sonic CD.
Gears of War (Sonic Overload Conference) (1-22, 0-5) – 10 (27.78%) Sonic Adventure 2 (Sonic Overload Conference) (19-4, 3-2) – 26 (72.22%) --Sonic Adventure 2 blows Gears of War out of the water.
Guitar Hero II (Sonic Overload Conference) (2-21, 1-4) – 9 (23.08%) Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Sonic Overload Conference) (18-5, 5-0) – 30 (76.92%) --S3&K likewise stays unbeaten in conference play with a blowout win.
Half-Life 2 (Sonic Overload Conference) (18-5, 3-2) – 18 (51.43%) Mother 3 (Sonic Overload Conference) (11-12, 1-4) – 17 (48.57%) --Half-Life 2 holds on for dear life against Mother 3 and barely wins.
Brave Fencer Musashi (Cult RPG Galaxy Conference) (2-21, 0-5) – 14 (46.67%) God of War II (Cult RPG Galaxy Conference) (8-15, 2-3) – 16 (53.33%) --GoW2 wins a low-scoring duel with Musashi.
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (Cult RPG Galaxy Conference) (9-14, 1-4) – 11 (34.37%) Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Cult RPG Galaxy Conference) (20-3, 4-1) – 21 (65.63%) --Path of Radiance gets to 20 wins with an easy victory over DQ5.
Suikoden II Conference: Nintendo Objections (3-1) RPI as of Week 22: 64 Record vs. RPI 1-25: 0-3 (Symphonia, Okami, Phoenix Wright 1) Record vs. RPI 25-50: 0-2 (Twilight Princess, Final Fantasy Tactics) Record vs. RPI 50-65: 0-0 Record vs. RPI 66-85: 1-2 (Win: Mother 3, Losses: Chrono Cross, Secret of Mana) Losses to sub-85: 0 Effective Record: 1-7 Key Matches (that you can't tell from pure W/L: 23-24 (OT) L Tales of Symphonia Barely beating Halo, Ratchet and Clank, Mario Kart DS, Tekken 3
Suikoden II honestly has performed like one would expect a cult RPG to perform, but unlike Persona 4, it doesn't have enough fans to look good against strong competition, especially since that week 1 match with Tales of Symphonia. Losses to Secret of Mana and Chrono Cross won't help, especially since in order for both of those losses to not look bad, it will require Chrono Cross and Secret of Mana to play their way into the bubble discussion. If Mother 3 had managed to upset Half-Life 2, that would have helped Suikoden II's resume a great deal, however as it is, when your feature performances either happened almost half a year ago or were 3 vote wins over non-tournament consideration opponents, you're in trouble. However, for the sake of LMS, I'll put a quote that would be very like him.
"Based on Suikoden II, Tekken 3 might be able to threaten Tales of Symphonia. It's sure lucky to not be in the Twilight Barrel Conference!"
My god, Half-Life 2's struggles against games flirting with .500 continue.
Also yay Civ4 outperformed Half-Life 2 against BK. Moral victory for me I suppose.
WTF Majora's Mask, what happened there???
WTF Soulcalibur II, what happened to you???
As if to embarrass Half-Life 2 even further, Gears of War started out 4-3 against SA2, while Half-Life 2 started 1-8 against the same opponent. And yesterday it started 1-9 against Mother 3. I know it technically doesn't matter, but still.
gurl was walkin2 skewl wit her bf n they were crossin da rode she sed "bbz wil u luv me 4evr" he said "NO.." da gurl cryed N ran accross da rode b4 da green man came on the sine. boy was cryin and went to pic up her body. she was ded. he whsipered 2 her corpse "I ment 2 sey I will luv u FIVE-ever......" (dat mean he luv her moar dan 4evr....) lik this if u crai evrytaim
Half-Life 2's abysmal victory over Mother 3 is made to look all the worse given that Half-Life 2 had no problems with Earthbound.
Not to repeat this, but Half-Life 2 seems to be an entirely different animal all together when facing games flirting with .500 than it is when facing games that actually have a better record (and it has only faced two such games this contest - FE7 and SA2). I almost feel that we could speak of Civilization IV being in the same conversation.
I'm almost tempted to say that Half-Life 2's best match this contest was that loss to SMRPG, which looks all the better after how SMRPG crapped all over P4 last week.
Also we now not only have a top 10 with no Zelda games, but a top 27 with no 3D Zelda games. Glorious (and I don't know how sarcastic I mean to be in saying this).
Okay wow, what is it with P3 and its inclination to enter OT against fellow PS2 JRPGs???
And man, DMC3 can't beat Mario Sunshine, but it can force OT against Fallout 3. This board is even more Mario-centric and WRPG-hating than I would have ever guessed.
LeonhartFour posted... From: red sox 777 | #017 conference play is boring. Your loss.
Well, he's right. Half the conferences are over now and all we get to see is conference winners like SMG2, SSBB, Portal etc obliterate fodder for the next five weeks
There are plenty of games trying to play their way into their tournament, and how you do in conference play will be a large determining factor in that.
Maybe people don't want to care about non-top 25 games facing off, but it's good stuff.
Gunstar Heroes (Cult RPG Galaxy Conference) (7-16, 1-4) – 17 (51.52%) World of Goo (Cult RPG Galaxy Conference) (8-15, 1-4) – 16 (48.48%) --Gunstar Heroes gets its first conference win in a close match against World of Goo.
Pokemon Black/White (Cult RPG Galaxy Conference) (16-7, 4-1) – 15 (39.47%) #9 Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Cult RPG Galaxy Conference) (21-2, 5-0) – 23 (60.53%) --Galaxy 2 continues to roll over the competition in this conference. It's taken out every realistic contender in the first five weeks of conference play.
Shadow Hearts (Cult RPG Galaxy Conference) (10-13, 2-3) – 18 (48.65%) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (Cult RPG Galaxy Conference) (15-8, 4-1) – 19 (51.35%) (OT, 11-7) --Shadow Hearts nearly pulls off the upset, but it couldn't finish the fight in overtime.
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (Nintendo Objections Conference) (9-14, 0-5) – 17 (48.57%) Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (Nintendo Objections Conference) (10-13, 2-3) – 18 (51.43%) --Disgaea falls short of getting its first conference win in a heartbreaking defeat to Kirby 64.
#18 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Nintendo Objections Conference) (19-4, 4-1) – 26 (70.27%) Elite Beat Agents (Nintendo Objections Conference) (3-20, 0-5) – 11 (29.73%) --DKC2 takes care of business against EBA.
#21 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Nintendo Objections Conference) (19-4, 4-1) – 22 (57.89%) Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Nintendo Objections Conference) (14-9, 2-3) – 16 (42.11%) --In a battle of games beloved for their story, their characters, and their high drama moments, PW1 wins out.
#6 Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow (Nintendo Objections Conference) (21-2, 4-1) – 29 (72.50%) Super Street Fighter IV (Nintendo Objections Conference) (4-19, 0-5) – 11 (27.50%) --R/B/Y rocks SSFIV as expected.
Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald (Nintendo Objections Conference) (10-13, 2-3) – 12 (31.58%) Super Metroid (Nintendo Objections Conference) (16-7, 4-1) – 26 (68.42%) --Super Metroid gets back on track with a blowout of R/S/E.
Suikoden II (Nintendo Objections Conference) (15-8, 3-2) – 16 (42.11%) #5 Super Mario 64 (Nintendo Objections Conference) (20-3, 5-0) – 22 (57.89%) --Suikoden II puts up a good fight, but not much else.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Thousand-Year World of Sunshine Conference) (15-8, 4-1) – 27 (72.97%) Gitaroo Man (Thousand-Year World of Sunshine Conference) (0-23, 0-5) – 10 (27.03%) --Gitaroo Man remains winless in a bad loss to Aria of Sorrow.
Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening (Thousand-Year World of Sunshine Conference) (14-9, 4-1) – 19 (51.35%) (OT, 10-8) Fallout 3 (Thousand-Year World of Sunshine Conference) (15-8, 3-2) – 18 (48.65%) --DMC3 gets a big quality win over Fallout 3 in overtime.
Grim Fandango (Thousand-Year World of Sunshine Conference) (13-10, 3-2) – 10 (27.03%) #11 Super Mario World (Thousand-Year World of Sunshine Conference) (20-3, 4-1) – 27 (72.97%) --Mario World rolls over Grim Fandango.
Legend of Legaia (Thousand-Year World of Sunshine Conference) (3-20, 0-5) – 13 (35.14%) Super Mario Sunshine (Thousand-Year World of Sunshine Conference) (10-13, 3-2) – 24 (64.86%) --Sunshine beats Legaia easily.
A top 10 without Legend of Zelda has now been swapped for a top 10 without Pokemon. Wow.
Has P3 lost any OT match it ended up in?
So DMC3 lost to the weakest Mario platformer to make the tourney, but it beat the strongest WRPG to make the tourney. The board's love for Mario is starting to get even more sickening, and this is coming from someone who has Mario as his #1 VG franchise, and pretty easily at that - but it's not like half my top 10 is Mario or anything (...though half my top 6 is Mario, which might be even worse).
And I swear, it seems like SM64 is just doing the bare minimum it "needs" to do to get by. It is more or less falling asleep in all its matches so that it can squeak out victory with a last minute comeback. Congratulations guys, for increasing my anti-Mario sentiment that I'm trying to fight off (seriously, I've been watching NCS's LP of SMG2 and while I'm doing it I always end up thinking "why am I hating on this series again all of a sudden"?).
Also good job Uncharted 2, but you too have to actually win against a good opponent sometime.
You really need to stop accusing me of this. As I've told you before, that was his idea, and we rarely did it...(If you even count SSBM/ToS as doing it, and it was still the two most popular Gamecube games at the time, so there was a LINK.)
--
"You know what, forget it. Nothing I can think of posting will really be of much use to anyone in any way, shape, or form." ~LinkMarioSamus
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (Thousand-Year World of Sunshine Conference) (7-16, 2-3) – 14 (37.84%) Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Thousand-Year World of Sunshine Conference) (18-5, 5-0) – 23 (62.16%) --TTYD continues to roll through conference play.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance (Thousand-Year World of Sunshine Conference) (2-21, 0-5) – 9 (25.00%) Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (Thousand-Year World of Sunshine Conference) (6-17, 2-3) – 27 (75.00%) --Marvel teaming up with Capcom is three times more ultimate than the Ultimate Alliance.
#7 Final Fantasy VII (Fanservice Conference) (21-2, 5-0) – 23 (60.53%) #23 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations (Fanservice Conference) (19-4, 4-1) – 15 (39.47%) --FFVII wins a big conference match against T&T.
Kingdom Hearts II (Fanservice Conference) (14-9, 5-0) – 23 (58.97%) Mega Man X (Fanservice Conference) (15-8, 2-3) – 16 (41.03%) --The Square games continue to dominate this conference.
Psychonauts (Fanservice Conference) (9-14, 3-2) – 24 (64.86%) World of Warcraft (Fanservice Conference) (0-23, 0-5) – 13 (35.14%) --WoW remains winless against Psychonauts.
Silent Hill 2 (Fanservice Conference) (11-12, 1-4) – 20 (58.82%) Wild ARMs (Fanservice Conference) (3-20, 1-4) – 14 (41.18%) --SH2 gets its first conference win against Wild ARMs.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Fanservice Conference) (13-10, 2-3) – 11 (28.21%) #12 Super Smash Bros. Melee (Fanservice Conference) (20-3, 4-1) – 28 (71.79%) --Melee blows KOTOR out of the water.
Starcraft (Fanservice Conference) (12-11, 1-4) – 17 (48.57%) Suikoden III (Fanservice Conference) (7-16, 2-3) – 18 (51.43%) (OT, 9-3) --It was close during regulation, but it was not so close during overtime.