Board 8 > Noble Nine's records.

(+) Yeah! (+)

So we're all familiar with the Noble Nine and we've been poking some fun at the Noble Nine's expense after Pikachu's win, but let's take a quick look at what made the Noble Nine a bad-ass unstoppable force.

The Noble Nine against non-Noble Niners in full-day one-on-one matches with regular vote counts:

Samus - 16-0
Solid Snake - 16-0
Crono - 14-0
Mega Man - 14-0
Sonic - 14-0
Sephiroth - 13-0
Link - 10-0
Mario - 10-0
Cloud - 9-0

In 2002: 24-0
In 2003: 25-0
In 2004: 25-0
In 2005's Villain Contest: 5-0
In 2005's full contest: 20-0
In 2006: 17-0

CURRENT RECORD: 116-0 (100%)

Let's be clear: there was a period where your contest run just ended whenever you ran up against the Noble Nine.

More stats coming.
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The Noble Nine was undefeated during the CJayC era.

SBAllen's era would not be so kind to its record, starting from his first contest.

The Noble Nine against non-Noble Niners in four-ways:

Mario - 20-0
Samus - 20-0
Cloud - 22-1
Link - 20-1
Sephiroth - 19-1
Crono - 18-1
Megaman - 16-1
Snake - 23-3
Sonic - 18-3

In 2007: 84-7
In 2008: 92-4

CURRENT RECORD: 176-11 (94.12%)

Not only did most Noble Nine characters get at least one loss during the four-way era, we even saw an outsider win the 2007 contest. Still, a 94% record was not to be disrespected.
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are you going to cover 2010 and 2013?
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Of course he will. Give him time.
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SB decided after our board's outrage over four-ways that we should go back to one-on-one matches, with the new twist of having half-day matches instead of full-day matches. This allowed the Noble Nine the chance to redeem themselves, and with only one first round-exception we saw them all achieve redemption.

The Noble Nine against non-Noble Niners in half-day-format one-on-one matches:

Link - 4-0
Sonic - 4-0
Samus - 4-0
Solid Snake - 4-0
Cloud - 4-0
Sephiroth - 4-0
Mario - 4-0
Mega Man - 3-0
Crono - 0-1

In 2010: 31-1

CURRENT RECORD: 31-1 (96.88%)

Missingno broke a lot of hearts against Crono here, but like when Vincent first beat Crono in 2007 there was a segment of Noble Nine purists that said this wasn't a legitimate way to say the Noble Nine was broken, since this wasn't the same way they first earned their reputation.

And they'd be right, but guess what -- we haven't had the kind of format they first had since 2006 and GameFAQs has left that style behind. This became just another way to deny the Noble Nine had been broken.
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At this point, Mario and Samus were the only two characters to have never lost to someone outside of the Noble Nine.

Three-ways changed that.

The Noble Nine against non-Noble Niners in three-ways:

Mega Man - 7-0
Solid Snake - 8-1
Samus - 7-1
Link - 5-1
Sonic - 5-1
Cloud - 5-1
Mario - 3-1
Crono - 3-1
Sephiroth - 6-2

In 2013: 49-9

CURRENT RECORD: 49-9 (84.48.%)

Draven buttbroke four of these characters with some additional losses caused by Vivi, Mewtwo, Pikachu, and Squirtle. Crazy to think three Pokemon broke the Noble Nine in 2013...in that way, who can be surprised about Pikachu beating Mega Man a few hours ago? Then again, Mega Man beat five Pokemon characters in 2013 including Pikachu. plus Mega Man was also the only character to hold the line for the Noble Nine that year.
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For those who want to be reminded where we're at right now so far in 2018:

The Noble Nine against non-Noble Niners in full-day-format one-on-one matches with registered users getting double-votes *INCOMPLETE*:

Sephiroth - 4-0
Link - 1-0
Cloud - 1-0
Crono - 1-0
Mega Man - 0-1
Sonic - n/a
Samus - n/a
Solid Snake - n/a
Mario - n/a

In 2018 so far: 7-1

CURRENT RECORD so far: 7-1 (87.5%)

Plenty of updates coming here soon, so stay tuned.
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good thread, good research
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@Ngamer64 @CaptainOfCrush talk about this on the show plz
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Whoa, this is good stuff.
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So the Noble Nine never lost a full 24-hour 1v1 match where every vote was equal?
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_Dog_ posted...

So the Noble Nine never lost a full 24-hour 1v1 match where every vote was equal?

No, buts its unlikely those kinds of matches will happen anymore.
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Hbthebattle posted...

_Dog_ posted...

So the Noble Nine never lost a full 24-hour 1v1 match where every vote was equal?

No, buts its unlikely those kinds of matches will happen anymore.

Well, there is the possibility that a N9 could go down without the registered voter bonus playing a role in the decision.
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"Yo but like overall what's the Noble Nine like?"

The Noble Nine against non-Noble Niners as of 2013 (2018 is *NOT INCLUDED YET*):

Samus - 47-1
Mega Man - 40-1
Mario - 37-1
Cloud - 40-2
Link - 39-2
Crono - 35-2
Sephiroth - 42-3
Solid Snake - 51-4
Sonic - 41-4

In 2002: 24-0
In 2003: 25-0
In 2004: 25-0
In 2005's Villain Contest: 5-0
In 2005's full contest: 20-0
In 2006: 17-0
In 2007: 84-7
In 2008: 92-4
In 2010: 31-1
In 2013: 49-9

CURRENT RECORD AS OF 2013: 372-21 (94.66%)

I messed up my numbers somewhere and could use some help -- my characters say 20 losses and my years say 21 losses. I went with 21 and will be happy to update the number later when this discrepancy is settled.

Whatever the case, this is no small sample size. These are nearly four hundred matches across sixteen years and five different match formats. I would guess most of our triplings and quadruplings in our contests came from the Noble Nine, as have most of our harshest SFF beat-downs, most of our division champions, and most of our championships.

We may laugh at them when they lose, but we've seen them win ~95% of the time too -- they have earned their attention for their losses and we recognize it's a big deal.

We'll see how these records change this year real soon, but in the meanwhile I guarantee any loss of theirs (or even a close win) will be a big deal.
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Can we remove joke entrants? I mean draven and l block shouldve removed. As should missingno
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Nowadays it's more about their remarkable consistency than any ongoing streak.

Bowser has always been a decent near-elite but not more than that, as he is showing today, yet again. Missingno, Draven and Block were flashes in the pan. Even Vincent has fallen off, and this after missing the first three contests. Pokemon in general were somewhat weak in the first like 7 or 8 contests.

The streak was never gonna last forever, but their general strength has been a real constant throughout. The noble nine certainly aren't dead, but the streak has been dead since 2010.
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In case you're wondering who the lucky souls were to ever survive against the Noble Nine.....

The Noble Nine survivors:

2007:
Vincent (Crono)
L-Block (Solid Snake three times, Sonic, Cloud, and Link)

2008:
Auron (Sonic)
Weighted Companion Cube (Mega Man)
Kirby (Sonic, Sephiroth)

2010:
Missingno (Crono)

2013:
Pikachu (Crono)
Vivi (Mario)
Draven (Link, Sephiroth, Samus, and Solid Snake)
Mewtwo (Sonic, Sephiroth)
Squirtle (Cloud)

2018 *SO FAR*:
Pikachu (Mega Man)

Several of these losses were due to LFF while several others were due to rallies. In that way, it's amazing to see how only a few of these mentioned can't be excused outside of "YEAH BUT CJAYC-ERA MATCHES WERE DIFFERENT THOUGH"...which is true, but then those match standards are probably never returning either.

It's also worth pointing out Pikachu is the only outsider to break the Noble Nine in two different contests. On top of that, the Pokemon series has four characters that count as survivors (nearly five when you think about Charizard barely losing against Mega Man and Zero in 2013).
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To emphasize how big a deal it is to see the Noble Nine lose, I ask you: how many times have you correctly predicted their losses?

For me, I only called Vincent > Crono correctly in 2007 and that was enough to separate me from the pack to win prize-money.

I feel decent about Zelda > Sonic later in this contest too, but that's not guaranteed and I've only taken that prediction in the Second Chance-bracket. Meanwhile, today's showing me that my original upset special of Kirby > Crono wasn't meant to be this year...and I don't bet against them too often outside of that. How often do you want to chance it on that ~5% chance, ya know?
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HaRRicH posted...

For me, I only called Vincent > Crono correctly in 2007 and that was enough to separate me from the pack to win prize-money.

Oh, i remember this... I was supposed to win prize money, but I had made my entry a "fun" entry by mistake. Thus you got the prize money instead of me!

So the only non-Pokemon/joke characters to beat a Noble Niner include Vincent, Vivi, and Auron.
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Yeah I got Vincent > Crono as well which contributed to my 6th place overall finish in 2007. Think that's the only time I ever bet against the NN successfully as well

Unfortunately I also did not get money due to false vote stuffing allegations that I could not prove false because how could you
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Leonhart accidentally double-voted in I think a Zelda-match too who would have been ahead of me for prize-money. I think Lopen had some issue too, hard to remember.

I'll take the good luck as it comes.

Haste_2 posted...

So the only non-Pokemon/joke characters to beat a Noble Niner include Vincent, Vivi, and Auron.

And just to get more specific, I would replace Vivi with Kirby due to LFF-considerations. Vivi had huge LFF on his side when Mario was stuck with Ganondorf. Meanwhile, Kirby was able to successfully eliminate Sonic in a poll with Sephiroth and Dante in it.
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Kirby beating Sonic reminds me of how hard it is to beat the Noble Nine: it's almost impossible to do it twice to the same character.

Kirby beat Sonic in a four-way from 2008, then Sonic beat him right back one-on-one in 2010.

Auron beat Sonic as he was held back by Sandbag in 2008, then Sonic beat him the next round when Auron was held back by Sephiroth.

Vincent beat Crono in a four-way from 2007, then Crono beat him back in 2008.

Meanwhile, L-Block is the only character to beat the same Noble Nine-member more than once -- it managed to beat Solid Snake three times in a row.
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Squirtle beat Cloud?

Ryu to the quarterfinals (and Cloud > Link LOL) is what got me on the final leaderboard that year.

Zelda ripped me off in 2007 and she did it again in 2018
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HaRRicH posted...

Meanwhile, L-Block is the only character to beat the same Noble Nine-member more than once -- it managed to beat Solid Snake three times in a row.

It's real hilarious when you remember the Snake that did beat L-Block was Solid Shit. Snake at his worst actually beat the Block, but then fell a bunch of times despite the fact that he should have been stronger in the following rounds.
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If you're shaped like a boot you don't want to be kicking literal shit. It makes perfect sense. The essence of tactical espionage action shown by Snake in that round.
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TAG, good stuff!
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nokillingmoths posted...

Squirtle beat Cloud?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/5257-character-battle-ix-division-5-final-cloud-vs-squirtle-vs

Only contest Squirtle's been in.
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HaRRicH posted...

The Noble Nine survivors:

2007:
Vincent (Crono)
L-Block (Solid Snake three times, Sonic, Cloud, and Link)

2008:
Auron (Sonic)
Weighted Companion Cube (Mega Man)
Kirby (Sonic, Sephiroth)

2010:
Missingno (Crono)

2013:
Pikachu (Crono)
Vivi (Mario)
Draven (Link, Sephiroth, Samus, and Solid Snake)
Mewtwo (Sonic, Sephiroth)
Squirtle (Cloud)

Just adding a new stat to this category.....

AS OF 2013: out of the 399 characters seen in a contest as of 2013 (characters exclusively in vote-ins have not been included; if anybody would like to help me with that I would include them)...

...11 separate characters out of the 390 non-Noble Nine characters have defeated the Noble Nine (2.82%).

2018's newbies and victors can be added after the contest ends.
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Nice topic.
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HaRRicH posted...

Kirby beating Sonic reminds me of how hard it is to beat the Noble Nine: it's almost impossible to do it twice to the same character.

Kirby beat Sonic in a four-way from 2008, then Sonic beat him right back one-on-one in 2010.

Auron beat Sonic as he was held back by Sandbag in 2008, then Sonic beat him the next round when Auron was held back by Sephiroth.

Vincent beat Crono in a four-way from 2007, then Crono beat him back in 2008.

Meanwhile, L-Block is the only character to beat the same Noble Nine-member more than once -- it managed to beat Solid Snake three times in a row.

Kirby also beat Sephiroth in 2008, then lost to him in 2013.
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As far as 2018 goes regarding the purity of the Noble Nine record, I'm of the opinion that every single Noble Nine loss has counted with the exception of Jay Solano (never forget!). That was a Board 8-focused bonus poll that should be noted, but I don't think it counts in the same way the other front page-losses do. I'll be happy to add him in if enough people disagree with that assessment since a Noble Nine member did indeed lose in an official GameFAQs poll.

Still, there are indeed differences in every loss we have seen from the Noble Nine compared to the original way they were conceived. I bring this up to discuss 2018's matches we consider.

I absolutely count Mega Man's loss to Pikachu as a Noble Nine loss. That said, does it break the Noble Nine's record in the way it was originally formed? We're in a funny format where that answer can different from match to match, but I see three differences worth noting if you're going the "NU-UH PURITY THOUGH" route.

1) Mega Man would have won if we went purely by total votes instead of registered users getting double the votes.
2) Mega Man was not eliminated.
3) Voters have to vote in multiple matches at once now instead of one match at a time, which can affect all related matches each day.

To those points though:

A) Everybody's playing by the same rules here and I don't remember people objecting to this Noble Nine-possibility before the contest.
B) How much did we care about the difference in four-ways between Vincent beating Crono and Auron beating Sonic? Crono was eliminated while Sonic was not, but they both still lost to an outsider.
C) A match is a match and every format favors somebody.

So if you're really pushing for that purity angle, you have your angles here, but do know this format doesn't insist on any of those protections through-out the entirety of this Second Chance-bracket:

i) Characters can still lose by enough where the registered double-votes wouldn't matter.
ii) Characters can still be eliminated in the losers bracket.
iii) There will be some one-match days in this format.

So, I mean, good luck with that purity. My thought's that I don't know the rules-purity ever mattered in the early years as much as the idea that the Noble Nine just gets the job done -- both through their undefeated win record from their first five years and from overcoming adversity along the way like major pic disadvantages and momentum-based rallies.

But for those who care the most about those technicalities, there they are.
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DanKirby posted...

Kirby also beat Sephiroth in 2008, then lost to him in 2013.

DanKirby coming through with the Kirby facts! Nice catch, thank you.
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This is great. Flooding me with nostalgia.

It's weird that so many long-term board members have such an affinity to this group of characters. We revered them for years.
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Like I said. Don't think about the streak or whether they've lost or not. They evidently have. Their overall consistency and remarkable ongoing strength is worth lauding. You cannot expect permanent invulnerability (and that's super boring anyway). But they're still utter machines.
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Noble Nine bragging rights:

The Noble Nine members each have plenty to be proud about on their own. They have killer records and incredible legacies everywhere you turn. Here are a few of those cool legacies against outsiders:

Samus - She has the best record of any Noble Nine member with only one loss at 47-1, plus she was the last character in the Noble Nine to lose -- that being the 2013 championship against Draven.

Mario - He is the only other Noble Nine character who only has one loss at 37-1, and while Samus has the better record against outsiders he has notoriously defeated Samus every time they faced each other. This record also doesnt include the wins he would have earned if he was allowed in the main bracket for 2006.

Mega Man - He was 40-1 until yesterdays loss against Pikachu, now placing him at 40-2. Still, he was the only Noble Niner not to lose to an outsider in 2013s three-way madness which featured five new Noble Nine breakers.

Cloud - His record of 40-2 doesnt highlight the fact he was a former champion, nor does it include the matches he would have won if he was allowed in the main bracket for 2005 and 2006.

Link - He was 39-2 until yesterday, now tying him with Cloud and Mega Man at 40-2. This record doesnt highlight his six championships, nor does it include the matches he would have won if he was allowed in the main bracket for 2005 and 2006. His two losses were against L-Block in the most voted in poll of contest history and Draven in what was the most voted in poll of 2013 up to that point -- both polls having such vote totals due to incredible outside forces. In addition to his record noted above, his loss against Jay Solano in a special poll not featured on the front page of GameFAQs should be noted too.

Sephiroth - His record has the good fortune of occasional padding that the rest of Clinkeroth did not have. He was gifted the Villain Contest instead of being in 2005s main bracket, plus he was the only Noble Nine member to enter the main bracket in 2018s contest which is currently boosting his pre-2018 record from 42-3 to 46.3. Still, this record doesnt highlight his Villain Contest championship or the matches he would have won if he was included in the main bracket for 2006.

Crono - He gets crapped on a lot for breaking the Noble Nine first in four-ways, three-ways, half-day matches, and though I did not include the Rivalry Rumble Crono was still the first to lose in that if you insisted on pointing out (Solid Snake and) Liquid Snake > Crono (and Lavos). He also has the fewest wins of any Noble Nine member. That said, despite his record of just 35-3 pre-contest today becoming 36-3 today with his current victory over Bowser, Mega Mans loss to Pikachu yesterday means Crono is the character who has gone the longest time since his last loss to an outsider.

Solid Snake - He has faced the most outsiders, putting him at 51-4. This means he is tied both for the most losses suffered by a Noble Nine member as well as leading with the most victories for a Noble Nine member. Like Link, Snakes losses were against L-Block and Draven. The differences are that Snake did defeat L-Block in their first match-up in 2007 (despite Solid Shit) whereas Link did not and Snakes loss against Draven in the championship had more rallied votes than Links loss.

Sonic - His record is the lowest with four losses at 41-4, but in his defense Sonic avenges himself well. He is the only Noble Nine member to defeat two outsiders who defeated him before -- he avenged his losses against both Auron and Kirby in later matches. With his other two losses being against L-Block and Mewtwo, Sonic would be likely to win those rematches too if given the chance again.
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XIII_rocks posted...

Like I said. Don't think about the streak or whether they've lost or not. They evidently have. Their overall consistency and remarkable ongoing strength is worth lauding. You cannot expect permanent invulnerability (and that's super boring anyway). But they're still utter machines.

I agree -- the streak was cool while it lasted, certainly, but the label remains long afterward for a reason and that legacy of the former streak is only part of it.
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Oh, and also, Samus and Mario were the only two characters to escape the four-ways era without a loss to an outsider, both leaving with 20-0 records each. That's pretty rad!
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HaRRicH posted...

The Noble Nine against non-Noble Niners as of 2013 (2018 is *NOT INCLUDED YET*):

Samus - 47-1
Mega Man - 40-1
Mario - 37-1
Cloud - 40-2
Link - 39-2
Crono - 35-2
Sephiroth - 42-3
Solid Snake - 51-4
Sonic - 41-4

In 2002: 24-0
In 2003: 25-0
In 2004: 25-0
In 2005's Villain Contest: 5-0
In 2005's full contest: 20-0
In 2006: 17-0
In 2007: 84-7
In 2008: 92-4
In 2010: 31-1
In 2013: 49-9

CURRENT RECORD AS OF 2013: 372-21 (94.66%)

I messed up my numbers somewhere and could use some help -- my characters say 20 losses and my years say 21 losses. I went with 21 and will be happy to update the number later when this discrepancy is settled.

I fixed this -- Crono should have been 35-3 instead of 35-2. 372-21 was correct.
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I'd add something about where the phrase came from and why specifically it's the noble nine and not the elite 8 or super 3 or terrific 10 or whatever

I'll have to do more research later as I'm on my phone, but IIRC it was originally just 'link is the best' in 2002, as he was the only undefeated character.

Then, after link lost his first match in 2003, 'link is the best' changed into 'a set of all characters that either are link or have defeated someone in the set.' The first iteration happened to have 9 characters, and so the set was called the noble nine.

It also happened that the set didn't change for roughly a decade or more, so people seemed to forget it could be expanded, and was originally an expansion itself.

Some people add a corollary that the characters have to have been in every contest. If you don't use that restriction, one could now say 'pikachu is in the noble ten', then look and see who has defeated pikachu in the past, forming the noble 11 and so on
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Although, to be fair, due to the fluctuating strength of a lot of these characters over time, that set would now be so huge as to be almost meaningless.

Therefore, we are left with the noble nine being an informal title of the strongest, most consistent producers in the contests
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HaRRicH posted...

CURRENT RECORD AS OF 2013: 372-21 (94.66%)

...this doesn't come off as impressive to me. Would we get a better percentage is we replaced one of the characters with, say, Tifa?
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banananor posted...

Some people add a corollary that the characters have to have been in every contest. If you don't use that restriction, one could now say 'pikachu is in the noble ten', then look and see who has defeated pikachu in the past, forming the noble 11 and so on

The stats guys did this. Of the characters who (I think) have been in every contest, the others would be Fox (who defeated Pikachu) and then Zelda (who defeated Fox). There are more in that set, but I don't think they've all been around since 2002.
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Yes, I remember talks about Magus's strong 2003-performance on Link and whether that was enough to warrent expanding the list or booting Sonic or what. I believe Magus's x-stats had him a little above Sonic that year and we were in uncharted territory about what to do there, but we stuck with Sonic and two years later Knuckles embarrassed Magus for his first of several embarrassments so we made the right decision.
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UltimaterializerX posted...

HaRRicH posted...

Mario - 20-0

The mother fucking CHAMP.

Ya samus is pretty great
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Well, the Noble Nine were originally the final eight in 2003 (plus Crono, who many thought should've beaten Mario that year). That's where the designation originated.
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Tifa is 16-1 before this contest and 20-1 as of today. Her loss was against Kratos with Sephiroth in the poll in 2008, plus if you have her replacing a Noble Niner then that record changes if you replaced Sonic/Samus/Sephiroth with her because they beat her. Tifa's records are like half the size of any other Noble Niner, partly due to her delayed debut making her miss the first three contests, but then she was also a straight-up snub in 2007.

She very nearly beat Samus with a Zero Suit Samus picture in 2006 though, but alas she was not meant to be the character to first break the Noble Nine. That honor was reserved for fellow FF7-star Vincent in 2007, who was able to do that partly by being about as strong or even stronger than Tifa...and partly, again, by not snubbed that year like Tifa was.

Tifa's a powerhouse. Tifa also does not improve the Noble Nine.
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Tifa improves anything she's a part of.
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wait, i was totally talking out of my butt in that last post, and what I stated as fact was apocryphal.

Based off of the board 8 wiki, using my method the noble nine wouldn't have been a thing until the 2006 contest, one year before the L-block situation. so was the term created then, or was it always just a subjective term for the characters that were perceived as strongest?

My bad!

the inductees of the "set" would look like this:
#1: Link (2002 champion)
#2: Cloud (2003 Cloud > Link)
#3: Mario (2002 Mario > Cloud)
#4: Sephiroth (2003 Sephiroth > Mario)
#5: Crono (2004 Crono > Mario)
#6. Sonic (2006 Sonic > Crono)
#7. Samus (2002 Samus > Sonic)
#8. Mega Man (2005 Mega Man > Sonic)
#9. Snake (2006 Snake > Mega Man)

And then... the next year was the 4 way
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