Board 8 > Which character is the line for elite status in the contests, in your opinion?

(+) Yeah! (+)

This topic came up in another thread and I thought I would put it to some democracy. All are around the 30-35% mark x-stats wise. I didn't include any Pokemon characters (or Vivi) from that range because they are too inconsistent, or Aerith because we don't know how much she (and FF7 in general) has declined.
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Out of this bunch, Zero.
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Link
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Da BOSS
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Ganondorf and Kirby are both on the high end of elite, not low end.
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Underleveled posted...

Ganondorf and Kirby are both on the high end of elite, not low end.

Based on the last two contests Kirby would be around the middle and Ganondorf would actually be towards the bottom.

Right now it seems to be Leon vs Ryu, makes sense!
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Lightning Strikes posted...

Based on the last two contests Kirby would be around the middle

you're kidding right

he got 47% on Sephiroth in 2013 and basically looked to be about equal to Luigi

breaking 45% on Sonic in 2010 isn't an "around the middle" performance either

Ganondorf caught a couple of bad breaks in the last two contests, so I don't hold that against him necessarily.

Like, if you're good enough to beat those two, you're beating most of these other guys. I guess it just depends on how high you want to set the bar.
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It's a strong group and some had to be left out. What I had meant to say in the last post as well (and I apologise for forgetting) is that I wanted to cast as wide a net as possible, hence the presence of Kirby. Who would you put in Kirby's place?
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Lightning Strikes posted...

It's a strong group and some had to be left out. What I had meant to say in the last post as well (and I apologise for forgetting) is that I wanted to cast as wide a net as possible, hence the presence of Kirby. Who would you put in Kirby's place?

Yoshi.

I'd take Kirby to beat Yoshi in a heartbeat these days. Heck, you could throw in Pikachu, too.
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LeonhartFour posted...

Lightning Strikes posted...

It's a strong group and some had to be left out. What I had meant to say in the last post as well (and I apologise for forgetting) is that I wanted to cast as wide a net as possible, hence the presence of Kirby. Who would you put in Kirby's place?

Yoshi.

I'd take Kirby to beat Yoshi in a heartbeat these days. Heck, you could throw in Pikachu, too.

I think that's fair and I did consider it, but I think Kirby/Yoshi just ends up like Luigi/Kirby back in the day.
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I don't. Yoshi hasn't looked good in a contest match in quite a while. Luigi and Kirby have both looked about equal since 2006. I don't think Luigi, Yoshi, and Bowser are interchangeable.
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Ryu just because he seems pretty consistently near the lower end and around ~30% on Link (probably a bit less on peak Link but more on the weaker Links) unless one of the characters who beat him were later involved in shenanigans. Dante's often around his level but the problem there is that I feel Dante's releases actually matter somewhat and can change his strength whereas Ryu's don't; the latter is almost all iconic strength and very few on gamefaqs care what new fighting games Ryu has appeared in within the last few years. I guess Smash could potentially be an exception? Not sure what to make of Ryu in Smash other than "not even remotely close to the boost Solid Snake got."
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Leon I think is a clear step below most of these - pretty good, and beating him puts you in contention to be an elite, but probably not quite there.

I'd probably go with Ryu, or even Zero. Probably Ryu now.
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I would say Squall or Auron.
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Ryu, because he's Mr. Consistency. The more stable your line is, the better it works.
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Out of curiosity, is there a generally accepted #10 in these things? Besides the Draven guy? I read about the Noble 9 but who is the strongest besides them?

WitcherGeralt posted...

Out of curiosity, is there a generally accepted #10 in these things? Besides the Draven guy? I read about the Noble 9 but who is the strongest besides them?

Good question! It used to be Vincent Valentine, but then he declined pretty heavily. Now there isn't a canonical number 10 really. It could be Pikachu but who knows with Pokmon (they are highly unpredictable). Mega Man X is a good one too.
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It's Squall.
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Ryu. See ARR's and SS's reasoning.
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SuperNiceDog posted...

I would say Squall or Auron.

Ignoring rallies, Squall is arguably #10. There's no way it's him.
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Underleveled posted...

Ganondorf and Kirby are both on the high end of elite, not low end.

i thought those two and maybe Zero were the only ones in this poll that would even be called elite. the term "near-elite" was created for the others
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