Board 8 > What is the most impressive contest performance of all time? In your opinion.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Relative to pre-contest expectations, Vincent demolishing Kerrigan is up there.
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voltch posted...

Relative to pre-contest expectations, Vincent demolishing Kerrigan is up there.

This is true. I mean I think at the end of the day pretty much everyone expected Vincent to win but Kerrigan was supposed to put up a good fight.
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Kerrigan was impressively bad. Vincent was not far off of expectations
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What's the biggest win by percentage and biggest win by total votes?
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Undertale/Smash is the most impressive performance of all time by any objective metric. Both sides were ridiculous, and it made the finals a formality afterward.

Mega Man/Charizard/Zero is insane because Rock's win is probably the most impressive instance of managing to overcome a complete anchor to clinch a match. Multiway polls suck, but that was a hell of a thriller.

Mario/Crono 2k3 is probably the most impressive final update of all time. It was an absolute monster comeback at the last possible second, and it must have been crazy to see in real time.
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Blowouts tend to impress me more than anything...

Legend of Zelda's 74% on Metal Gear and 85% on Metroid (series)
Pokemon RBY's 51% on Zelda:MM/BK/PD
Sephiroth's 62% on Mario/Mega Man
Link's 82% on Yoshi (2004)
Squall breaking 60% on Luigi
Squall's 73% on Tidus
Cloud's second and third rounds in 2007, where he looked better than Link.
Chrono Trigger's 66% on FFX
Suikoden II'2 24% on Zelda: OoT
Vivi getting so close to Mario before accounting for the rally

There's probably a lot more that I forgot, though.
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KanzarisKelshen posted...

Undertale/Smash is the most impressive performance of all time by any objective metric. Both sides were ridiculous, and it made the finals a formality afterward.

Rallies.

KanzarisKelshen posted...

Mario/Crono 2k3 is probably the most impressive final update of all time. It was an absolute monster comeback at the last possible second, and it must have been crazy to see in real time.

God that match was bonkers. One of my favorite days to be on B8 ever.
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ExThaNemesis posted...

KanzarisKelshen posted...

Mario/Crono 2k3 is probably the most impressive final update of all time. It was an absolute monster comeback at the last possible second, and it must have been crazy to see in real time.

God that match was bonkers. One of my favorite days to be on B8 ever.

I remember going to bed with Crono in the lead and waking up to find Mario won and I was very happy.
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I remember the match was on the same day as SummerSlam and I left the house with Crono up big and Mario making the come back. And then with the SNV it looked like Crono was locking it up. I think I went to bed when Crono was in the lead too and found out in the morning that Mario pulled it off.
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I went to bed with the assumption that Crono had won, got up before school to vote in Sephiroth/Alucard, looked down at the bracket and saw MARIO had won and had no idea how to process what happened
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Some of the beating Sephiroth put on Mario can definitely be attributed to salty Crono fans

...because there were SO MANY.

That and Cloud's fans from the previous year we SO TIRED of Mario's shenanigans.
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Then Crono finally put the beatdown on Mario in 2004 in one of the most confusing results ever to me. Not from a stats standpoint, but just from a perspective of "how could a character from one cult game almost a decade old beat freaking Mario so badly?"
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Underleveled posted...

Then Crono finally put the beatdown on Mario in 2004 in one of the most confusing results ever to me. Not from a stats standpoint, but just from a perspective of "how could a character from one cult game almost a decade old beat freaking Mario so badly?"

the moral arc of the universe bends towards justice
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Underleveled posted...

Then Crono finally put the beatdown on Mario in 2004 in one of the most confusing results ever to me. Not from a stats standpoint, but just from a perspective of "how could a character from one cult game almost a decade old beat freaking Mario so badly?"

that match was exactly why Samus > Mario in 2005 was so popular (along with Samus doing so well on Cloud that year)

man I miss the days when "so well on Cloud" was 41%
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I want to say StarCraft 2004, but technically if you imagine that SC probably deserved higher than a 16 seed to begin with, the results make more sense.
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like I think we forget how hilariously anti-voted Mario was before 2005

I miss those days too
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Okay to help you out on Mario/Crono

Mario vs Cloud the round before happened. Baby face vs Baby face

Mario's friends without his knowledge distracted Cloud last second and helped Mario land the stomp on Cloud's head for the 1-2-3.

Mario bans his friends from ringsing the following round and he and Crono put on a 5* classic with Mario just avoiding the crushing Luminaire by a hair to land the stomp on the head for the 1-2-3.

Next year, they rematch. again, both are faces and are putting on a hell of a match. Another 5* classic. Only this time at the end Crono adjusts his spell and hits the Luminaire full blast, knocking out Mario cold just as time is about to expire. He drags Mario to the middle of the ring and 1, 2...

Then the lights go out. The count is interrupted. When they return CJayC is in the ring and hands Mario a star. Mario looks at Crono and Crono is dumbstruck and confused. Mario smirks, shrugs, and activates the star and lays him out with a massive haymaker for the crooked 1-2-3. Mario turns heel.

In the offseason Crono goes searching for answers, and finds himself in Hyrule where Link is back training. Link explains that he used his kid form for a challenge last year but still respects that Cloud was able to get the job done against him, no worries at all. He says he is real sorry for what Mario did to him and offers to train him for a month. It won't get him up to Link's strength, but Link knows a couple of things about whooping Mario's ass.

So finally they rematch the following year. Just as the match starts CjayC goes to interfere for Mario right away, who has slacked in his training since turning heel. But Link shows up, Master Sword drawn, and just shakes his head at CjayC, the match continues and it is fairly even but you can tell Mario should have spent the year training. It's only a 4.5* but in terms of pure story telling it earns a 5.5* star.

In the middle of the ring, Crono is hurting but Mario is gased....Crono hits Luminaire. CjayC is still being held up, there's no one to save Mario. Crono drags him to the middle...

...

And hits another Luminaire as the crowd goes wild.

Crono pins him for the 1...2...3 and the roof explodes. Link nods to Crono, Crono nods to Link. He knows he isn't going to be champion, but he has been restored his pride as a fighter.
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StarCraft beating Wind Waker for me.
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DoomTheGyarados posted...

Okay to help you out on Mario/Crono

Mario vs Cloud the round before happened. Baby face vs Baby face

Mario's friends without his knowledge distracted Cloud last second and helped Mario land the stomp on Cloud's head for the 1-2-3.

Mario bans his friends from ringsing the following round and he and Crono put on a 5* classic with Mario just avoiding the crushing Luminaire by a hair to land the stomp on the head for the 1-2-3.

Next year, they rematch. again, both are faces and are putting on a hell of a match. Another 5* classic. Only this time at the end Crono adjusts his spell and hits the Luminaire full blast, knocking out Mario cold just as time is about to expire. He drags Mario to the middle of the ring and 1, 2...

Then the lights go out. The count is interrupted. When they return CJayC is in the ring and hands Mario a star. Mario looks at Crono and Crono is dumbstruck and confused. Mario smirks, shrugs, and activates the star and lays him out with a massive haymaker for the crooked 1-2-3. Mario turns heel.

In the offseason Crono goes searching for answers, and finds himself in Hyrule where Link is back training. Link explains that he used his kid form for a challenge last year but still respects that Cloud was able to get the job done against him, no worries at all. He says he is real sorry for what Mario did to him and offers to train him for a month. It won't get him up to Link's strength, but Link knows a couple of things about whooping Mario's ass.

So finally they rematch the following year. Just as the match starts CjayC goes to interfere for Mario right away, who has slacked in his training since turning heel. But Link shows up, Master Sword drawn, and just shakes his head at CjayC, the match continues and it is fairly even but you can tell Mario should have spent the year training. It's only a 4.5* but in terms of pure story telling it earns a 5.5* star.

In the middle of the ring, Crono is hurting but Mario is gased....Crono hits Luminaire. CjayC is still being held up, there's no one to save Mario. Crono drags him to the middle...

...

And hits another Luminaire as the crowd goes wild.

Crono pins him for the 1...2...3 and the roof explodes. Link nods to Crono, Crono nods to Link. He knows he isn't going to be champion, but he has been restored his pride as a fighter.

What

Um

That

...okay, sure
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Undertale winning was guaranteed though
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so what was impressive about "rally vs. rally" when the winner was never in doubt

seeing what everyone other than us thought about that match was the least interesting thing ever
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LeonhartFour posted...

so what was impressive about "rally vs. rally" when the winner was never in doubt

seeing what everyone other than us thought about that match was the least interesting thing ever

The fact people cared so much and were trying. It's why I love Smash/Undertale so much. It'd been so, so long since people had last gotten super invested in our silly contests that it was a joy to watch.
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they didn't care as much as they did in link/draven

the truth is out there

*x-files theme plays*
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actually people were plenty invested before the rallies killed it

Melee's rallying actually killed the board's interest more than Undertale's did (which is saying something)
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But seriously, "it'd been so long since people cared" seems really weird to say when 2013's endgame was probably the most people cared since... 2007, at least.

We had Board 8ers getting wrestlers to rally on social media, a "totally-not-a-DDOS," Hayter and Hale rallying for Snake.

it was legitimately nuts like perhaps nothing since Mario/Crono II and I'm including L-Block in that.
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LeonhartFour posted...

actually people were plenty invested before the rallies killed it

Melee's rallying actually killed the board's interest more than Undertale's did (which is saying something)

I don't give a toss about the board though

Like there's people here who are like brothers to me, and people I respect, but the board's reactions are not what the contest is about for me. What I really love is seeing people other than us wizened stat diehards experience the same things we have time and time again, for the first time. Even if they only enjoy it once, it makes me happy when someone new gets to see a miracle comeback or a crazy-ass match where it feels like the whole internet is motivated by a silly favorites poll.
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yeah now that I think about it Draven's rallies were actually more fun than Undertale's or Melee's were by a lot
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KanzarisKelshen posted...

I don't give a toss about the board though

and I don't care what other sites think about our contests
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LeonhartFour posted...

KanzarisKelshen posted...

I don't give a toss about the board though

and I don't care what other sites think about our contests

It's a pity this is your only big community leon. I've had lots of fun explaining stuff like stats tracking and timezone based vote prediction and shit to people who had never been part of a contest to the point they got interested in the 2015 one. It's something very special to me, and I hope one day you can enjoy it too.
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KanzarisKelshen posted...

It's a pity this is your only big community leon.

not really
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KanzarisKelshen posted...

I don't give a toss about the board though

That's very clear
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LeonhartFour posted...

KanzarisKelshen posted...

It's a pity this is your only big community leon.

not really

I'm sure. When's the last time you've shared this kind of stuff with someone else who wasn't on this board tho?
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actually I forgot about the most impressive performance of CBIX

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/5253-character-battle-ix-division-1-final-link-vs-shepard-vs

Shepard broke double digits while Link and Draven rallied like crazy for 24 hours

KanzarisKelshen posted...

I'm sure. When's the last time you've shared this kind of stuff with someone else who wasn't on this board tho?

I mean I never really made a habit of talking about this contest with my real life friends
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As someone who has been a part of several massive community and fandoms (Harry Potter, Mafia, a part of several massive subreddits, Pokemon, writing...etc) I care far more about the fun this contest brings to the board than I do other sites because so many people have invested so many hours, days, months, and years into making these contests so amazing. From fanfiction to analysis to discuss to contests of skill to bets, this community is one of my favorite because we all at the end of the day argue over who would win in a fight and sometimes we're right and sometimes we're wrong and sometimes we just don't care because it was amazing.
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DoomTheGyarados posted...

As someone who has been a part of several massive community and fandoms (Harry Potter, Mafia, a part of several massive subreddits, Pokemon, writing...etc) I care far more about the fun this contest brings to the board than I do other sites because so many people have invested so many hours, days, months, and years into making these contests so amazing. From fanfiction to analysis to discuss to contests of skill to bets, this community is one of my favorite because we all at the end of the day argue over who would win in a fight and sometimes we're right and sometimes we're wrong and sometimes we just don't care because it was amazing.

And you can't grow this board without getting people invested in the contests. It's really sad to see the board dying slowly as we lose people faster than fresh blood comes in. To me, nothing's more important than getting people to care enough about this contest that they'd want to discuss it after it's done - and that starts with giving them a reason to care about the contest. Community efforts can go a long way towards achieving that.
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Undertale vs OoT.
Undertale was never losing at this point but it made it looks like way easier than Draven ever did (against Snake or Link) or even L-Block (OoT only got a single 1 vote cut)

The only contest I actively disliked was 2013.
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DoomTheGyarados posted...

Okay to help you out on Mario/Crono

Mario vs Cloud the round before happened. Baby face vs Baby face

Mario's friends without his knowledge distracted Cloud last second and helped Mario land the stomp on Cloud's head for the 1-2-3.

Mario bans his friends from ringsing the following round and he and Crono put on a 5* classic with Mario just avoiding the crushing Luminaire by a hair to land the stomp on the head for the 1-2-3.

Next year, they rematch. again, both are faces and are putting on a hell of a match. Another 5* classic. Only this time at the end Crono adjusts his spell and hits the Luminaire full blast, knocking out Mario cold just as time is about to expire. He drags Mario to the middle of the ring and 1, 2...

Then the lights go out. The count is interrupted. When they return CJayC is in the ring and hands Mario a star. Mario looks at Crono and Crono is dumbstruck and confused. Mario smirks, shrugs, and activates the star and lays him out with a massive haymaker for the crooked 1-2-3. Mario turns heel.

In the offseason Crono goes searching for answers, and finds himself in Hyrule where Link is back training. Link explains that he used his kid form for a challenge last year but still respects that Cloud was able to get the job done against him, no worries at all. He says he is real sorry for what Mario did to him and offers to train him for a month. It won't get him up to Link's strength, but Link knows a couple of things about whooping Mario's ass.

So finally they rematch the following year. Just as the match starts CjayC goes to interfere for Mario right away, who has slacked in his training since turning heel. But Link shows up, Master Sword drawn, and just shakes his head at CjayC, the match continues and it is fairly even but you can tell Mario should have spent the year training. It's only a 4.5* but in terms of pure story telling it earns a 5.5* star.

In the middle of the ring, Crono is hurting but Mario is gased....Crono hits Luminaire. CjayC is still being held up, there's no one to save Mario. Crono drags him to the middle...

...

And hits another Luminaire as the crowd goes wild.

Crono pins him for the 1...2...3 and the roof explodes. Link nods to Crono, Crono nods to Link. He knows he isn't going to be champion, but he has been restored his pride as a fighter.

Beautiful.
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You know I kind of realized in my hypocrisy that I was marking the fuck out over Mario > Crono in 2003, when CJayC blatantly helped Mario out.

But ten years later I vilified Allen for doing the same thing with Draven.

Damn.
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^ Good old Ceej.

Remember that fool who actually showed up at his house?
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Averia posted...

Undertale vs OoT.
Undertale was never losing at this point but it made it looks like way easier than Draven ever did (against Snake or Link) or even L-Block (OoT only got a single 1 vote cut)

this is a great pick too. I know Undertale had a massive rally at that point, but still, beating the CONSENSUS best game of all time soundly is just.... incredible.
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Again I have no time for anyone calling rallied results "impressive".

It's your opinion and all that but they just aren't legitimate strength.
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I don't think any result involving "legitimate strength" can be impressive though , since by default it will always be mostly as expected.

It doesn't have to be rally, but there is usually once "external" factor that makes an unexpected result.
Whether it's rallying, SFF (Vivi > Mario > Ganon), pic sabotage (Phoenix > Vincent) , game release (Charizard > Bowser), being the last of a franchise or something else.

Mega Man>Charizard>Zero at PEAK Pokefear and Big Blue just reared back and clutched his way to a win.

What a fucking baller.
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Gotta give it to Mega Man vs Charizard vs Zero.
CT's run too. From just another stong game to probably stronger than OoT. I had CT over FF7 that year and it would probably have been correct if we didn't have any extreme rallies. I remember thinking that CT and Super Metroid would benefit from 'one of those games which the site's old/core users seem to think to be the greatest game of all time'.
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Like, people were calling Charizard to win that match before Pokemons big bump evidenced in that contests voting.

Mega Man had no business winning after the way Charizard performed.
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LeonhartFour posted...

like I think we forget how hilariously anti-voted Mario was before 2005

I miss those days too

How folks figure that?
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