Board 8 > Best Year in Gaming Contest Analysis Crew

(+) Yeah! (+)

Brawl hype turned everything else in Smash Bros. into beast mode for a while, but that was pre-release. Same with TP for Zelda pre-release.

I don't really think BotW will provide a sitewide boost for unrelated Zelda games. The characters, sure, but the years? Ehhhhhhh.
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yeah, I specified after release on purpose. even Halo 3 caused a bump. Lightning's strongest year was probably before her game was even out. hype is weird.
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transience posted...

3? that's a totally different case!

More like 2 boosted the original, see Mass Effect between 2009 and 2010.
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that's a continuous story. I don't think it relates in that way either.

this is two Zelda games 30 years apart.
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ME2 boosted Shepard, at least, but that's not the same thing.

ME1 looked a lot stronger in 2015 than it did in 2009, but that's probably just general exposure to the series expanding since then.
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LeonhartFour posted...

ME1 looked a lot stronger in 2015 than it did in 2009, but that's probably just general exposure to the series expanding since then.

I'm confused with this statement.

So you're agreeing ME2 helped make ME stronger, right?
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I'm saying ME got more popular over time because it became more widely played. Shepard benefited from ME2. ME1 just benefited from getting played more, like finally getting released on PS3 after a long hiatus.
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whelp, time to watch something happen

I'd probably have rather picked 87 right now, but I'm always anxious when picking an upset
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looks like I was wrong

oh well

I'm sure I just got eliminated from the Guru or something
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When in doubt, pick the year closer to 1998.
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1987 with a huge blowout in what was originally thought to be a potentially close match. Seems like depth is going to matter more than having a top anchor.

System releases don't seem to be making any difference here, but that's because Allen hasn't been including them in his match pictures. Once Board 8 is given the right to create match pictures for later rounds, we'll finally get to see systems in match pictures.
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I doubt systems will matter as much as games. The PS3 was a joke when it first released, it took years before people warmed up to it. The only system release that I'd argue would matter is the NES, but as we can see, it's not important at all.

2001 will be strong, but the fact that the Gamecube and Xbox were released during it will be secondary to the fact that Melee and Halo were released, the games which absolutely defined those consoles. The PS2 was released a year earlier, but it wasn't until 2001 where it got its flagship titles.
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Well there goes my bracket. I actually had 1991 pulling off a late upset on strength of the SNES as well.
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For now, people ALWAYS vote for more recent years. Keep going and 2015 will won.

dandyb posted...

For now, people ALWAYS vote for more recent years. Keep going and 2015 will won.

There is 2016 in the way !
(But I would be surprised if 2014 somehow wins tomorrow)

Mario ain't shit
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GameFaqs omited a picture of the NES. The system that they included in their little infographic when users chose their picks.

They literally ommited the most important thing fin the history of gaming.
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I was banking on Allen adding consoles into the pics in later rounds.
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dandyb posted...

For now, people ALWAYS vote for more recent years. Keep going and 2015 will won.

Yup. I am guessing the demographics skew pretty young here and people are voting for what they remember over what they've only read about.

I'm 42 years old and am generally voting for the earlier ones because of fond memories.

tiptonhr posted...

dandyb posted...

For now, people ALWAYS vote for more recent years. Keep going and 2015 will won.

Yup. I am guessing the demographics skew pretty young here and people are voting for what they remember over what they've only read about.

I'm 42 years old and am generally voting for the earlier ones because of fond memories.

https://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/6509-how-old-are-you

GameFaqs omited a picture of the NES. The system that they included in their little infographic when users chose their picks.

They literally ommited the most important thing fin the history of gaming.

Mario 1 is there so the NES launching in the same year is obvious to anyone who remotely cared about the NES in the first place.
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1987 is one of my favorite years!

That said, '85 should've gone SMB/Duck Hunt/Gradius/Ghosts 'n Goblins.
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Round 1 – 2001 vs. 2014

Moltar’s Analysis

Alright so 1987 is showing that depth is pretty important for a year’s strength. Now we’ve got 2001 which is one of the deepest ones in the contest to maybe back that up. Nintendo fans, Square fans, western fans, 2001 has a game for all of you here. Melee, FFX, GTA3, Halo, and the list goes on.

2014...yeah, it’s got nothing that stands up against those classics. The blowouts continue.

Moltar’s Bracket: 2001

Moltar’s Prediction: 2001 - 75%



transience’s Analysis

Wow. Has any debated match ever been a bigger blowout than 1987/1985? I'm trying to think of something legitimately discussed that then turned into a tripling. Not bad 1987. Maybe we've got some SFF or something, who knows. Nothing makes sense.

Okay, today is a much easier day. 2014 has basically one game: Smash 4. Unfortunately, 2001 has the granddaddy of Smash games. There's no way that Allen misses a chance to pit Melee and 4 up against each other in a picture.

Maybe Smash 4 can hold its own, but the likes of Bayonetta 2 or Dark Souls 2 isn't going to hold up to whatever he could throw into the 2001 picture. FFX, GTA3, Halo.. Halo...

You know, I wonder if Halo is actually a net negative for the year and there's no way you avoid putting the game that launched the Xbox in a picture about gaming years. Maybe we'll revisit this in later rounds. For now, 2001 takes it easy.

transience's prediction: 2001 with 80.11%



Leonhart’s Analysis

As I watch 1987 crush 1985, I guess I might have to rethink my assertion that depth isn’t that important! But it could be some weird SFF, too, so who knows! I don’t think this will tell us too much about 2001 unless it goes really, really high or really, really low. It’s got all the games it needs in the match pic (I guess you could argue MGS2 would be a better inclusion, but eh), and 2014 has Destiny prominently featured in its match pic, which can’t be good for it. On the other hand, 2014 does have Smash 4 as the first game featured, opposite Halo 1 for 2001, but I don’t know if that will make any difference. There’s no way to tell unless 2014 overperforms and then we can speculate that it did.

Leonhart’s Vote: 2001

Leonhart’s Prediction: 2001 with 80.80%
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Kleenex’s Analysis

How sad is that 2014 games list. Three Wii U games and Dark Souls 3. 2014 was not a great year for games, and it's up against one of the contest juggernauts. 2001 is the favorite to make it out of the top half of the bracket to the finals, and this is a good chance for it to prove its worth. I'm not actually as high on 2001 as a lot of people are, but there's no denying that the triple threat of FFX, MGS2 and SSBM make it a formidable year. Also Halo.

2001 really should shoot for the moon here, because it got one of the biggest opening round softballs in the contest. There aren't too many years I'd take 2014 over, aside from the pre-NES wildcard entrants.

Kleenex's Prediction: 2001 with 82%



Guest’s Analysis - Bane

Another contest, another analysis. Nice to be back doing these.

Coming into this match is the powerhouse known as 2001. I think the site in general is expecting a great run from this year, and why not with dynamic duo known as Super Smash Brothers Melee and Final Fantasy X. Now FFX seems to have dropped in power a bit more than people would have expected if judging from the 2015 contest, not really showing a convincing 1st or 2nd round against Half Life or Mega Man X before being practically walloped by Chrono Trigger 65-35. However, Melee has stayed pretty consistent even to last contest and always has a strong support base so the combination of those two should really do some damage in this contest. Oh yea there's also some other 2001 games but let's be honest what we're paying attention for.

I'm utterly flummoxed by the fact that for notable games for 2014 Allen didn't list Dragon Age: Inquisition, which I feel like won the most GOTY awards that year. Anyway 2014 isn't anything to slouch over in terms of great games, like the aforementioned Inquisition, Bayonetta 2, and Middle-Earth Shadow of Mordor. And.....what's this.....oh yea another Smash game called Super Smash Bros. 4. So I'm guessing that might be where 2014 gets most of its strength, as Smash 4 is regarded highly as the rightful successor to Melee. But paired up against each other, I'm betting on nostalgia holding out. Plus Melee is still a great game that gets EVO events and such. Other than that 2014 does not have much in terms of contest strength. Dark Souls 2, while a good game, is not viewed nearly as highly as the rest of the Souls series games while Destiny is treated as a quasi-joke, getting almost obliterated R1 2015 against Starcraft 75-25. So yea before I ramble on more 2014 is not looking too favorable of an option in this match.

2001 wins with 76.58%



Crew Consensus: 2001: A Space Victory
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Vincent vs. Kerrigan beats out 1985 vs. 1987 in the blowout debated matches category.
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oh yeah, good call! man people cared so, so, so much more about that result than this one.

props to guests so far for not missing any matches despite this being, well, not the most interesting contest thus far
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this too:
https://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/4546-east-division-round-2-pokemon-trainer-red-vs-blue-luigi-vs
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did people debate that?

anyway rivalry rumble barely counts. then again i guess this wouldn't either
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Wow I thought I was gonna have the lowest %
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2005 was a good contest. That might be the height of the board in terms of our general knowledge combined with our passion for the contests. So many arguments that year.
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AxemRedRanger posted...

this too:
https://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/4546-east-division-round-2-pokemon-trainer-red-vs-blue-luigi-vs

Eh, Trainers vs. Ryu/Ken was the biggest debated match of that contest, I think.
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2005 was made great by the chalk of 04. we were set up for the fall.
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1979 18.9% 2978
2009 81.1% 12782
TOTAL VOTES 15760

1983 30.29% 4749
1989 69.71% 10929
TOTAL VOTES 15678

1981 25.71% 3862
2006 74.29% 11158
TOTAL VOTES 15020

1978 14.47% 2088
2005 85.53% 12343
TOTAL VOTES 14431

Crew Predictions: 4/4

What Happened: Low vote totals and obvious blowouts

What Will Happen: Some of these games go on to lose in Round 1, others in Round 2

Crew Prediction Challenge: Everyone off to a good start

Leonhart: 4
Moltar: 4
Guest: 4
transience: 4
Kleenex: 4

Crew Accuracy Challenge: Dp gets the point for 79/09, Kleenex gets the point for 83/89 and 81/06, and Moltar gets the point for 78/05

Kleenex: 2
Moltar: 1
Guest: 1 (Dp)
transience: 0
Leonhart: 0
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I'm sucking so far!
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Holy shit Master Moltar thats a name I haven't seen in years.
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no wire to wire win for me this year I suppose
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Round 1 – 2008 vs. 2009

Moltar’s Analysis

We already watched 2009 trounce a fodder year to get into the bracket, but now that it’s here, it’s going to fight a year that can fight back.

2009 doesn’t have any world-beater games, and neither does 2008. However, with Brawl, Persona 4, Fallout 3, and MGS4, that list of games says a little bit more to me than 2009’s games. Comparing them all straight up, I’d put all those 2008 games over 2009, but it would be fairly close.

So with that, I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that this isn’t going to be a blowout. 2008 just has a little more depth and strength than 2009, and I think that will be reflected here in a...relatively close match based off what we’ve seen so far.

Moltar’s Bracket: 2008

Moltar’s Prediction: 2008 - 63%



transience’s Analysis

2008's like 2006 - three or four big games, games that were big but now aren't AS big. MGS4, Brawl and Fallout 3 have been kind of trumped by either their predecessors or expectations. MGS4 has fallen to 1-3, Brawl stopped being relevant when Smash 4 came out and Fallout 3.. well, Fallout 3 is probably still a big deal. 4 didn't displace it. Skyrim did, though, and I wonder if F3 still has the cache that it had a few years back.

Doesn't matter though. Its opponent is 2009 which kind of struggled against friggin' 1979. Its picture, assuming it's reusing the one from the wildcard round which the file naming convention suggests, is a couple of western action games, Minecraft and SF4. 2008 should take care of that easily by having RPGs and Nintendo games. 2009 has neither.

2008 would have been a fun debate against some other gaming years but it gets fed to 01 next round. Not worth going too deep here.

transience's prediction: 2008 with 75.55%




Leonhart’s Analysis

2009 had an easy win in the Wild Card round, but this is where it ends. 2008 has three games featured in its match pic that would easily beat any game from 2009: MGS4, Fallout 3, and Brawl. Say what you will about MGS4 and Brawl not being what they used to be, but they’re still pretty strong. I’d wager Persona 4 can hang in there with any of 2009’s games, too. 2009 has some good midcarders behind it, but it’s simply outclassed by 2008. This might be the closest match of the contest to date, but that’s not saying much!

Leonhart’s Vote: 2008

Leonhart’s Prediction: 2008 with 65.65%
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Kleenex’s Analysis

I have a bit of a bias towards 2008 because Persona 4 was released that year, which makes it a bigger year than most for me. In reality, 2008 probably isn't actually that strong, despite seeming like it should be. I mean, it does have a Metal Gear, a Smash Bros., a Fallout, a GTA (lol)...but I have a hard time seeing most people look at that list and being super excited about it. I could be wrong though, it does happen on occasion!! Mercifully, there's not much wiggle room for me to be proven wrong, because 2009 is straight-up junk, and 2001 will have a field day next round. Next round will actually be a fun one to analyze due to the parallels between 2001 and 2008, even if the result is pretty much set in stone.

Kleenex's Prediction: 2008 with 65%



Guest’s Analysis - Spike

This is probably a 2008/2009 matchup (was heavily 2009 favored on paper, and as I write this 2009 is winning with 81.14% of the vote so nothing needs to be said about 1979).

That being said, 2009 is probably not coming close to beating 2008. The notable games are pretty good, and maybe there's an outside chance Minecraft is a potential rally candidate. However, the likes of Uncharted 2, Dragon Age: Origins, SF IV, and Batman: Arkham Asylum all suffer from being "good, but not Nintendo/Square".

2008 does not have this problem. Forget all the games listed for a second, Brawl being here is enough on its own to push 2008 into the second round pretty comfortably. Also I've not played MGS4 but I hear Snake is pretty popular. I didn't think much about this one.

65-35 in favor of 2008



Crew Consensus: The earlier year wins yet again
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Go 2009.
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I hear 65% is a popular number
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it's weird how this contest is a crapshoot and yet we all mostly settle in the same range most of the time
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Master Moltar posted...

I’m going to go out on a limb here

whoops
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boy this contest is blowout city
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So much for Halo pick screwing up 2001.

I should stop taking pictures too seriously.

Master Moltar posted...

transience’s Analysis

Wow. Has any debated match ever been a bigger blowout than 1987/1985? I'm trying to think of something legitimately discussed that then turned into a tripling. Not bad 1987.

Kerrigan/Vincent?
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I only ninja'd you by eight hours there
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=*(
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How did nes get knocked out sooo early????
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NOCOLLARENT posted...

How did nes get knocked out sooo early????

Easily.
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Leonhart’s Analysis


You could put Chrono Trigger in this match by itself against 1986’s entire video game library, and it’d crush this match. It could be that infamous “Link vs. Everyone” type of match others used to suggest hypothetically in the past. I’ve been of the opinion that depth isn’t really going to matter as much as a lot of people think, and your top anchor will matter the most, so 1995 scares me a lot. Chrono Trigger was truly fearsome in the last Games Contest, and it could’ve won that contest.

1986 is the year of my birth, but sadly, it might be the weakest year outside of the vote-ins. Its most notable release might be me. Seriously, you could just put a picture of me on the front page, and it wouldn’t change much.

Leonhart’s Vote: 1995

Leonhart’s Prediction: 1995 with 90.90%

...Yep, that's Leonhart.

DpObliVion posted...

Oh man. Bubble Bobble, Outrun, and birth year. I'm definitely voting for 1986. 1995 has Full Throttle! He's dumb.

My birth year pretty much sucked from a games standpoint, but it is the one year other than 1985 that I think most gamers inherently know was the release year for a particular system, because it's one that's almost as influential as the NES.

And that, of course, would be 1989. Nintendo may get repeatedly beaten senseless by its rivals in the console market, but smartphones are the best rival they've ever had in the handheld market. The Game Boy was probably the best thing they've ever done, and it's kind of telling that their current console is a full-fledged console-portable hybrid, with its predecessor also having a hybrid between a regular controller and a tablet.

As for the assertion that 1985-1987 was SFF: Makes sense. It's quite frequent that a console's launch year is actually fairly weak on quality games for it; 1996 and 2001 seem to be the exceptions. (Oh, and I guess 1991 is the SNES's launch year, right? Though the Genesis, which had already been out for a couple of years, shares that load. Look at 1995. Strong year, but entirely because of the SNES--the PS1 launch library was atrocious.) 1987 had the launches of a number of classic franchises, essentially the defining year of the NES.
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Round 1 – 1997 vs. 1999

Moltar’s Analysis

So 1997 looks to be the pretty obvious winner here, considering it’s got a headliner like FF7 and back-up like Goldeneye and SotN. FF8 immediately gets shut down, and nothing else from 1999 stands up to the tier 2 1997 games.

aka business as usual here, the blowouts continue

Moltar’s Bracket: 1997

Moltar’s Prediction: 1997 - 81%



transience’s Analysis

Tonight's matches are pretty whatever. 1997 trumps 1999 in the most significant way -- FF7 vs. FF8 -- and the other games in 1999 are pretty awful strengthwise compared to the years that surround it. It's not the worst year on the books but when you wreck its biggest strength, it's basically fodder. 97, on the other hand, is in the conversation for the finals. There's not much to say here, just guessing at a percentage.

Well, actually, I guess the big thing to take away here is trying to measure 97 up vs. 2001. It's a hard comparison. Both have one big game and a bunch of junk and both have the absolute worst opponent they could get. 97 probably gets around 80% but even if it gets 70 or 90, I don't feel comfortable saying a whole lot. There just isn't anything clear to read about those matches.

transience's prediction: 1997 with 83.35%



Leonhart’s Analysis

1999 got a raw deal here. It has two strong games to its credit. However, FFVIII’s strength is negated and overwhelmed by facing off against 1997, which has FFVII. Then Super Smash Bros. isn’t even included in 1999’s list of notable games, which will be a big problem because it’s been snubbed from the match pic, too. 1999 has a bunch of cult classics to its credit, but that won’t matter much against Square’s #1 or #2 game and a bunch of popular N64 games, as well as SOTN. This could get really ugly, but I’m voting 1999 to protest the travesty of Squall having to face Cloud yet again. Ugh.

Leonhart’s Vote: 1999

Leonhart’s Prediction: 1997 with 76.21%
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