Board 8 > Best Year in Gaming Contest Analysis Crew

(+) Yeah! (+)

hi

Welcome to the Contest Analysis Crew topic! In here, you will find a group of the most passionate, most experienced, most eager, and most knowledgeable GameFAQs users writing well-researched, thorough, informative, and exciting analyses about the Best Year in Gaming contest.

What you will not find in here is a bunch of jaded, negative, know-nothing GameFAQs users writing two sentences about matches, making blind guesses, saying illogical predictions with no good reasoning, and pretending to know what they’re talking about.


not gonna find that in here at all



nope



Meet the New Crew, Same as the Old Crew

5/1

Crew Confidants

The Emperor: Master Moltar
Level 1

The Hierophant: transience
Level 1

The Justice: Leonhart
Level 1

The Chariot: Kleenex
Level 1

The Fool: - Guest
Level 1



Current Guest List: Send write-ups to [email protected]

1979/2009 - DpOblivion
1983/1989 - Luster Soldier
1981/2006 - Haste
1978/2005 - t_kizzle


1995/1986 - whatisurnameplz
1985/1987 - Yoblazer
2001/2014 - Bane
2008/(1979/2009) - Spike

1997/1999 - Dilated Chemist
2007/2012 - Ranticoot
2000/1990 - tennisboy213
1996/(1983/1989) - spooky
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Wildcard Round – 1979 vs. 2009

Moltar’s Analysis

contestboyz

So admittedly my excitement for this contest isn’t all that high, even after the drought since the last one. Usually I get started on Crew work once the bracket is released, but I’m writing this on the day before the first match and haven’t even filled out my full bracket yet. Maybe it’s because I’m too busy playing games like Zelda and Persona and mobile stuff to analyze them for contests.

What this means is I’ve done a lot less reading on the board about what people are speculating will happening and going more with my own logic (that probably wont work out well). I think something that most people will agree upon based off over a decade of contest data is that kinda old games (1990s and 2000s) > new games (2010 on) >= super old games (1980s). We’ll see how long that holds up.

Anyway, on to this first match. 1979 has uh...Adventure, which suffered one of the biggest blowouts in the history of these contests, while 2009 has a bunch of high-fodder/low-midcard titles of franchises that people generally like. I would take all of those standout 2009 games over anything from 1979, so this shouldn’t be close.

Moltar’s Bracket: 2009

Moltar’s Prediction: 2009 - 85%



transience’s Analysis

Contest !! What is this contest? How are people even going to vote in it? I think that's the theoretical question to grapple with here more than any individual match. Weirdos like me can rattle off a dozen big games for every notable year of video games but average people are going to see a poll, make a snap decision in about five seconds and go. What gets into the match picture? Will entrants be wildly variable in strength between matchups because different games will show up? That's the stuff that probably determines this contest.

It's kind of nice that we get some joke-y matchups up front. We need a barometer by which to judge where we're going. These pre-85 years are like those play-in games in the NCAA tournament who would get the right to play a 1 seed. Congratulations, Asteroids, you beat out Crystal Castles. Now don't get me wrong, 1979 has games that are special to me -- I've rocked this xyzzy signature for well over a decade -- but just about nobody is going to vote for it. The high watermark game got nondecupled by The Legend of Zelda. I'm not even sure if nondecupled is a word. Let's go with it.

2009 isn't a very good year. It's got rallying potential - we'll get there - but it lacks a good Nintendo or Square game and neither is likely to get into the match picture anyway. Despite that, the likes of Uncharted 2 or Street Fighter IV is still likely to beat down Asteroids.

transience's prediction: 2009 with 84.86%
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Leonhart’s Analysis

I have no idea how to approach this contest or how to analyze the individual matches, but I’ve got a responsibility as a member of the Crew to give it a shot, so here we go!

1979 won the first vote-in, but I have a feeling it only did because it was the most recent year in the poll. GameFAQs trends old, but not quite THAT old! Pong was probably the most well-known game shown in the poll, and its year finished a distant third. The only game from 1979 that’s ever been in a contest is Adventure, the recipient of the biggest blowout in Games Contest history when it faced the original Legend of Zelda in 2004. So yeah, I don’t have any real expectations of it to do well here.

2009 is a strange year. Its GOTY (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2) is probably bad fodder by now, and it features a bunch of games that have done decently in previous Games Contests but have been outclassed when put up against the big boys. The strongest game from that year is probably a toss-up between Uncharted 2, Dragon Age: Origins, and Arkham Asylum. Fortunately, 1979 has no big boys in it, so 2009 doesn’t have much to worry about here. Next round will be a problem, but I imagine it wins easily here.

Leonhart’s Vote: 2009

Leonhart’s Prediction: 2009 with 75.55%


Kleenex’s Analysis

Hello crew readers! I'll be honest, I wasn't sure we'd actually see another contest after the one-two punch of CB9 and BGE3. There's no way to tell if this contest is going to get hit by another rally, but my inclination is that it's probably pretty safe, because who has strong feelings about years? Regardless, I actually think this is one of the most interesting contests we've had in a long time from a prediction standpoint, because everything is pretty much an unknown quantity. Sure, we know the general strength of all these games, but we don't know if each year is going to be carried by one game, or the combined strength of everything + consoles.

That being said, these wildcard matches are preeeeetty boring. We all know that new games aren't as strong as the late-90s bastion on this site, but if there's anything weaker than a game that came out in the past 10 years, it's a game that came out before most of the site was born. With 1979, we're looking at hard hitters like Asteroids and Adventure.

https://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/1606-division-8-round-1-the-legend-of-zelda-vs-adventure

That Adventure.

Make no mistake, 2009 is going to be very weak, even among the most recent years, but I'm pretty sure Uncharted 2 alone could topple the entirety of 1979.

2009 with 80%
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Guest’s Analysis - DpOblivion

It’s time for another contest! Which means another season of the Contest Analysis Crew. As a former Crew member and reigning Guru, I’m honored to do the guest write-up for this first match, and frankly, I have no idea how the hell this contest will go. I guess some years will beat some other years or something? What will the match pictures be like? How will console releases be weighted against game releases for the voters? Is this Allen’s rally-proof contest, or will a rally still happen, and what year(s) would get a rally? Needless to say, I’m not feeling confident about repeating as Guru champ.

Questions unanswered, we come to the first official match of the contest, which begins with a Wildcard round. This match-up pits the year of 1979 against the year of 2009. Wow, fascinating. Well, the bracket page offers up some information other than being just two years, aside from the obvious. They are 30 years apart, so you will see some very early, classic gaming against some modern gaming. And it’s a fairly weak set of early, classic gaming, and a fairly strong set of modern gaming.

1979 featured notable games such as Adventure, Asteroids, Galaxian, Lunar Lander, and Akalabeth, and notable new platforms of TI-99/4 and Microvision. I haven’t even heard of some of these. This is pretty much just generic old year of gaming.

2009’s notable games include Uncharted 2, Minecraft, Dragon Age: Origins, Street Fighter IV, and Batman: Arkham Asylum. I also particularly remember Assassin’s Creed II came out the same year as Uncharted 2, so I’ll throw that in there. It’s a very strong group of games, and for my money, the best year of the PS3 generation. I would consider both Uncharted 2 and Assassin’s Creed II among my top five games of all time, two sequels that paved the way for very popular new series.

So, 2009 wins pretty easily here. I honestly think 2009 could beat 2008 in Round 1, but that could be the bias talking as 2008 appears to be the unanimous pick, but if 2009 does win that, YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!

Dp’s bracket says: 2009 is a better year.

Dp’s prediction is: 2009 wins 82%-18%.



Crew Consensus: 2009 opens the contest with a blowout
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Tag. Let's show em what we're made of, Fools.
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First match pictures uploaded to the GameFAQs server earlier suggests only 2 matches per day (running at the same time) in the Wildcard Round.
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we are BACK

YOU PROBABLY SHOULDN'T TRUST ANYTHING WE SAY BECAUSE THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS BEING A CONTEST EXPERT WITH THIS THING

READ US ANYWAY
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I couldn't muster the hype to will myself to even humor asking Moltar to come back but I will muster the hype to read these write-ups
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ready or not, here comes JUSTICE

in JUSTICE we trust

...I'll go now
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oh man that's right, old man Lopen is out

I think that makes me the longest vet outside of Moltar! I take my rightful place at his side. I am the magician to his fool arcana
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does this mean I'm Chie
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The Mana Sword posted...

does this mean I'm Chie

you're...whoever Chariot is in P5 in this scenario

(don't tell me I haven't played P5 yet)
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LusterSoldier posted...

First match pictures uploaded to the GameFAQs server earlier suggests only 2 matches per day (running at the same time) in the Wildcard Round.

darn and here i got all four wildcard matches ready for nothing

LeonhartFour posted...

The Mana Sword posted...

does this mean I'm Chie

you're...whoever Chariot is in P5 in this scenario

which isn't an insult i promise
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yay crew
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Wildcard Round – 1983 vs. 1989

Moltar’s Analysis

Now we’ve got a match with two years in the same decade. That doesn’t make this match any more difficult to pick though, as 1989 has a few strong older games in it, most notably MM2 and Tetris. 1983 has the original Mario Bros., but that isn’t touching MM2 on GameFAQs, and none of the other games from that year come close to Tetris.

You could make a case for some games being able to carry their entire year, but the original Mario Bros. is not one of them.

Moltar’s Bracket: 1989

Moltar’s Prediction: 1989 - 72%



transience’s Analysis

1989 is a pretty great year for the NES but let's face it, the only games on the NES worth anything are from our holy trinity of game franchises: Mario, Zelda and, to a lesser extent, Final Fantasy. We like to think of GameFAQs as old but it's not NES old, not across the board. Most people played NES games after the fact and not when they came out. 1987, 1988 and 1990 have a Mario or a Zelda to anchor them. 1989 misses out.

There's a weird alternate reality where 1989 bombs and 1983, anchored by the picture of Mario Bros., pulls off a shocking upset. We always have unpredictable second matches, right? Oh, wait, Tetris and Mega Man 2, while not universaly loved, are universally recognized and still hold up today as absolute classics. Get outta here, 1983.

transience's prediction: 1989 with 78.53%



Leonhart’s Analysis

1983 finished second in its vote-in, probably solely on the strength of the original Mario Bros. I suppose it’s got a shot here if people confuse it for Super Mario Bros. or something, because I imagine it’ll be featured prominently in the match pic. That’s what makes this contest so hard to analyze. We have no idea how voters will approach the contest or what the pics will look like. I tend to give the voters a lot of credit in that they know what the poll is asking for and they vote accordingly, but we have no idea how much information Allen is actually going to give them. Plus, he’s barely promoted the contest to anyone outside of Board 8. He’s already announced he’s scrapping the blurbs he asked us to write, and if it’s like the vote-ins, you’re just getting one picture from a single game in the match. If you get Mario and Luigi vs. Mega Man 2, who knows what’ll happen? However, it had that Mario Bros. pic in the vote-in and still finished a distant second.

On the face of it, 1989 should win this one pretty easily. It’s got Mega Man 2 and Tetris, two games that’ll blow out fodder but that’ll fold in the face of stuff people actually know and like. 1983 has a lot of the former and none of the latter. 1989 also has the launch of the Game Boy and the Sega Genesis. I don’t know how much that’ll help, but it certainly can’t hurt. Barring some weird picture shenanigans, 1989 should take this easily.

Leonhart’s Vote: 1989

Leonhart’s Prediction: 1989 with 75.90%
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Kleenex’s Analysis

This is slightly more interesting than the first wildcard match, but not really. You can probably make a case for 1983 being even weaker than 1979. At least 1983 has the word 'Mario' associated with it in some capacity, so that might be its saving grace.

I think 1989 is going to be deceptively weak, though. Certainly not enough to be in danger of not crushing this match, but the big name games in the year are perennial under-performers. Mega Man 2 is pretty weak, and Tetris only looks strong when it's up against nothing. Which is the case here, so it'll do fine, but look for 1989 to get crushed next round.

1989 with 70%



Guest’s Analysis - Luster Soldier

Although none of the Vote-In years appearing in the Wildcard Round will advance to round 1, 1983 has the best chance and even that's almost impossible without a rally. This match would have been more interesting if this was 1983/1986 instead, as 1983 could get past 1986. Despite 1989 being the second weakest NES year, it still has enough going for it to gave it the edge over 1983. 1989 has Mega Man 2, Tetris, and the releases of the Genesis and Game Boy while 1983 only has Mario Bros. as its only notable game.

This match should be much less of a blowout compared to the other 3 matches in the Wildcard Round. In the 1980s Vote-In poll, 1981 put up 63.62% on 1983. 1989 should be even stronger than 1981, which should likely place 1989 in the 70-75% range for this match.

Luster Soldier's Bracket: 1989

Luster Soldier's Prediction: 1989 - 69.30%


Crew Consensus: 1989 takes it (even without MM2 in the pic what)
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sure woulda been nice to know that
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We're gonna have an early test to see how important pic factor is going to be.
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bringing this to the top for the start of yet another contest!
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so uh

where are the games in the pics
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th3l3fty posted...

so uh

where are the games in the pics

gotta wait for 5-10 seconds for the pics to rotate

come on SBAllen make the NES the logo for 1985
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oh yeah I'll get mine in tonight prob
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oh that explains that

my outdated browser literally couldn't handle the rotation
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wait what browser is this
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Firefox 40.0.2 which apparently was released in August 2015
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what a contest
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look at that votals
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This is hilariously bad.
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should be a little better when the more popular years show up but yeah casuals confirmed confused
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delaware loves 1979
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Always best part of the contest is the crew analysis and the post analysis by Ulti(can't remember his full name, sorry man!)
And even after so many years I am still happy to read all these stuff! Keep up the good work!
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Biggest takeaway is that I'm going to lose the Tiebreaker horribly
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Same, but at least in the guru so far I have the same bracket as two others; Glenn and Toad has a higher tiebreaker while PSI NESS has a very low tie breaker (maybe he forgot a digit), so I'd need the average to be higher than 14652.8. Based on the first matches we should be able to pull it off.
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How can you know that beside checking everyone bracket one by one?
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man I should have put in some oracle predictions for today
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foxhead84 posted...

How can you know that beside checking everyone bracket one by one?

I looked at people with the same number of risks and also shared my least common upset (2000 in the semi-final).

Yours is simple, find anyone with 0 risks (cloelea and SwiftyDC)
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Oh man, I might be scoring a point with my complete "iunno" percentage pick. Not over yet, still has to stay above 81%.
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everyone's shooting in the dark with these percentages!
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Yeah, I figured.
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Wildcard Round: – 1981 vs. 2006

Moltar’s Analysis

1981 has some real iconic games in it with Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Galaga. Unfortunately for them, as we’ve seen in previous contests, iconic status means nothing when they’re matched with opponents that people really care for.

2006 is arguably the strongest wildcard entrant here since it’s got both Twilight Princess and KH2, two very strong games on GameFAQs. It follows those up with a bunch of solid midcarders like Okami, Oblivion, and FF12 as well. 1981 doesn’t stand a chance against that line-up.

Moltar’s Bracket: 2006

Moltar’s Prediction: 2006 - 85%



transience’s Analysis

This doesn't seem fair at all. 1981 might be the worst year in the contest. Heck, Zork 1 didn't even come out in 1980 and it made the contest banner! It has to go up against a year that isn't great but is pretty stacked at the top with big Nintendo and Square games. 1981 might get some pity votes here because come on. Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga are classics but they aren't going to hold up to Zelda and Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts.

transience's prediction: 2006 with 83.45%



Leonhart’s Analysis

1981 looked to be the strongest game from either vote-in because it’s got some classics people know and have probably played, like Ms. Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. The original Pac-Man has done decently in both character and games contests, but Ms. Pac-Man is infamous for being on the receiving end of the first 90% blowout in contest history. I imagine the game is much weaker than Pac-Man, too. SexistFAQs and all that. Donkey Kong got crushed by Tetris in round 1 and finished dead last in round 2 in the 2009 contest, and it nearly choked away the biggest lead in contest history to Duck Hunt in 2004. It has name recognition but not much else.

I don’t know if Allen tried to put what he assumed to be the four weakest years into the Wild Card round, but if he did, he probably made a mistake putting 2006 in here. I’d like to know what his thought process was when making the bracket, other than trying to set up FFVII vs. OoT—er, excuse me, 1997 vs. 1998—in the finals as usual. Anyway, 2006 has a mainline Zelda and Kingdom Hearts II, which would obliterate anything and everything from 1981. It’s got a lot more than that, too, but that’s enough to tell you what we’re in for in this match.

Leonhart’s Vote: 2006

Leonhart’s Prediction: 2006 with 84.25%
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Kleenex’s Analysis

1981 is the only one of these early years to have some oopmh behind it. Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong...Zork! Look out. 2006, on the other hand, has those five magical letters - ZELDA. It also has a Final Fantasy game. And an Elder Scrolls game. And a Kingdom Hearts. 2006 should be pretty strong, by my estimation. It's pretty clearly head and shoulders over the other 7 wildcard entrants, and I'm honestly kind of shocked it ended up stuck here instead of in the main bracket. 2006 could end up being a bit of a spoiler later on during the contest.

2006 with 82%



Guest’s Analysis - Haste

Tonight's match is a real shame. 1981 is clearly the strongest of the pre-1985 games to get in, having two hits (Donkey Kong and Ms. Pac-Man) that are well-known to this day. We're sure to see those two in the match pictures along with two "whatevers". Maybe it could have had a shot against something, like '86 or '88. At the very least, we're likely to see those games in the front of the game rotation, so that's good.

2006, meanwhile, has two pretty big hits in Twilight Princess and Kingdom Hearts II. It covers two of the largest fanbases on the site, so the match is going to be pretty ugly. Oblivion doesn't hurt, either. Donkey Kong vs. Twilight Princess? A few voters might pause to consider the featured games' place in history, but just forget about trying to win, 1981.

2006 wins - 82.68%


Crew Consensus: 2006 stomps
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Master Moltar posted...

1981 looked to be the strongest game from either vote-in

augh gotta BUZZ myself here
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BUZZ guest while you're at it
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the wildcard is like an appetizer

actually, it's not even that. it's like, I don't know, ordering water
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I'd almost say it's like the complimentary rolls but those can be pretty great
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Wildcard Round: – 1978 vs. 2005

Moltar’s Analysis

day two and we’re already at the two sentence write-ups aww yeah

While 2005 doesn’t match up to 2006 on paper, it’s still a pretty solid year with Shadow of the Colossus and RE4 at the helm. Just like in the previous match, while 1978 has some very iconic games, it doesn’t hold a candle to the 2005 games that people care about.

Moltar’s Bracket: 2005

Moltar’s Prediction: 2005 - 82%



transience’s Analysis

1978? Really? This might be the blowout of the contest. 2005 is unique in that it lacks a strong Nintendo or Square game but we're up against Space Invaders here. I don't even need to write any more.

transience's prediction: 2005 with 89.44%



Leonhart’s Analysis

1978’s claim to fame is Space Invaders, a game I have fond memories of. When I was a kid, my dentist had a Space Invaders arcade cabinet in the waiting room, and he had it set up so you could lift the lid and give yourself as many credits as you wanted. It was a pretty sweet deal, and I put a good bit of time into it over the years, although I never really got the hang of it. Unfortunately, it hasn’t done well in its scant poll history. It finished dead last in a match against Tetris, DK, and Punch-Out!! However, it did beat out the original Sonic the Hedgehog in a “Which of this year’s inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame is most deserving?” poll, so that’s…something, I guess!

2005 is probably one of the weaker post-90s years. The final GOTY poll featured Mario Kart DS, for cryin’ out loud! I questioned 2006’s inclusion into the Wild Card round, but 2005 is a totally fair placement. RE4 seemed to have dropped off a little bit in the Games Contest. God of War (the other finalist in that GOTY poll) has probably fallen off, too. The two big movers since then are the original Ace Attorney and Shadow of the Colossus, which have each come a long way over the years. I’d have more confidence in them helping 2005 win multiple matches than anything else, honestly. That being said, it’ll win this match easily. It might be weak compared to its contemporaries, but it’ll kill anything from before the time when most of this site was born.

Leonhart’s Vote: 2005

Leonhart’s Prediction: 2005 with 77.77%
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Kleenex’s Analysis

Space Invaders is pretty cool I guess. Man, these early years really didn't need to be here. I get wanted to give face time to these early games, but this is going to be another route.

More interesting in this match is 2005's strength, or lack thereof. 4 Resident Evil is a fairly big deal on this site, and we obviously love some Ace Attorney. SotC had that fun run in GotD...but I'm not convinced that's going to be enough. Beyond those 3 games, 2005 is kind of a void of nothingness and honestly, Ace Attorney isn't adding much strength to that concoction. I think 2005 will be a big test of how much one game can carry a year.

2005 with 72%



Guest’s Analysis - t_kizzle

Rarely have we seen a weaker contest entity than 1978. Space Invaders is this year’s big anchor, a game whose entire contest history amounts to a finish in the bottom six of the 2009 x-stats. Many years’ fifth-most notable games could beat Space Invaders handily, and SI is 1978’s strongest game by a large margin, probably being the only thing here that 95% of GameFAQs users have ever even heard of.

What years would fail to at least double 1978? 1979, certainly; maybe ‘86 or ‘83, though they’d still win handily. The point being, this match was always going to be one of the blowouts of the contest, and when 1978’s opponent is a year anchored by two veteran midcarders you know it’s gonna be ugly.

Prediction:

2005 with 88.65%
1978 with 11.35%


Crew Consensus: New beats old yet again
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percentages are all over on that one!
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tag
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Eh Leon, I wouldn't underestimate Mario Kart DS. It beat God of War which is known to have some strength for second place, and was at the time heralded as the best Mario Kart. It is a shame its only contest appearance was getting fed to Brawl in GotD.
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