Board 8 > transience presents: the 75 most important matches in contest history

(+) Yeah! (+)

I wasn't sick of writing about the contest after 150 analysis crew writeups in two months, so I decided to make a list!

We should probably start by defining 'important'. This is *not* a list of the best contest matches, and many of them that rank high were not even particularly close. This is meant to be a list of matches that shaped the contests, or at least the perception of the contests. Some matches set trends and expectations for years to come, some right and some totally wrong. Some matches foreshadowed a big contest result in the future. Others were highly anticipated debuts that were total bombs.

Because of this influential criteria, this list will skew older and more towards later-round matches for obvious reasons. There's a reason that you see Mario 1 listed as a 'most influential' game even though there are many better Mario games that came later. For example, you won't see 2004 Jill Valentine vs. Ryu Hayabusa on this list because it didn't really change anything despite being super close. You might see 2004 Link vs. Ganondorf, though, 'cause that certainly did.

I expect my list here to be counter to a lot of others' expectations so I won't be surprised if people come at me for these picks. That's fine! Let's go!
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Nice.
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I have my prediction for #1
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it's chrono trigger over secret of mana, right
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Tag
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truly the most important match because it showed what a sham these contests are
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taggo
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75.



The notable thing here somehow isn't Mewtwo. Well, it is, but Pokemon went so nutty in 2013 that I would run out of list space if I threw in examples of random Pokemon beating notable gaming icons. Squirtle over Cloud, Mewtwo crushing Sephiroth, Pikachu, etc.

It's Vincent here. He had a hilariously bad picture, but the fact that he was beaten by Phoenix Wright that blew minds here. Vincent was our consensus #10 on this site, after the noble nine, from 2005-2010 or so. He was probably above one or two of them during that time too. Vincent beat Squall in 2005, Ganondorf in 2006 (killing some very beloved board 8 accounts in the process), and beat Crono in 2007. But here he was, getting suit and tie SFF'd by Phoenix. What?

It turned out to not be a fluke, as Magus almost beat him in 2018 and he went down softly to Auron. If this 2013 match never happens, Vincent's probably the consensus pick to beat Sonic. Vincent's fall from grace doesn't make a ton of sense, but when you consider how Seph did in 2018, maybe it actually does and gamefaqs has moved on from dark emo antiheroes now.
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75, huh. Well ok.

I guess when the influence from the bottom entry of the list is "we didn't overestimate this guy the next contest" yeah it makes sense that you could get 75!
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harsh! I actually just found 75 matches that I felt were notable so I went with that. I was planning to go smaller.

I find weird results super interesting though so this might get a little esoteric for people who haven't been into contests a long time (you, but also not you)
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74.



I like how this ended up at #74. Super Metroid wasn't expected to win this match, but it crushed its r1 fodder match with over 80% and was assumed to be a decent opponent for LTTP (who put up 90% on a similarly fodder-y opponent -- more on Zelda's dominance later). The oracle average here was under 60%.

The reality was a SFF beatdown that went beyond what anyone expected. Metroid wasn't really strong on its own -- Samus was, but Metroid was kind of a leech that would fall apart against core Nintendo. LTTP instantly went to a huge favourite over FF6 and probably CT as well. Division 16 was great with four big games (those + Mario World). It just wasn't five because Super Metroid was a confirmed fraud.

This match would get a lot of focus during the 2005 lockdown period. Mario/Samus was by far the biggest debate of that contest and this match kinda foreshadowed it.
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Link to the Past vs Super Metriod was important?
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SuperNiceDog posted...

Link to the Past vs Super Metriod was important?

"Here is why this match was important"

"That match was important?"

?????
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Tag
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Tag
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If the top two are not Mario/Cloud 2002 and Link/Cloud 2003 then this list is a sham.

Had those two matches not gone how they did when they did, odds are these things would have gone the way of the dodo long long ago.
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73.



L-Block's first match was actually not that big of a deal. Its opponents were perennial contest weakling Laharl and some guy named Nathan Hale. If L wasn't the board/bracket fave, it wasn't far off. It winning wasn't all that notable.

L didn't just win though -- it killed Laharl, leading Kirby for the first five minutes, then inexplicably taking the lead back at :20. This was more comical than anything people took seriously. L-Block fell apart and got killed by Kirby by the end of the poll so most people didn't give it much of a chance going into round 2. Yeah, it beat Laharl and Nathan Hale. So what?
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Oh and your write-up for 75 doesn't mention the significance that the guy who broke the Noble Nine lost to the guy who broke GFNW.
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Underleveled posted...

If the top two are not Mario/Cloud 2002 and Link/Cloud 2003 then this list is a sham.

Had those two matches not gone how they did when they did, odds are these things would have gone the way of the dodo long long ago.

yep. Also, Undertale vs Melee 2015 has to be top 10(eh... 25 would be ok with me, but minimum top 25)
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72.



I can't not include SOTC on this list. Most of our big unexpected boosts are huge franchises character being way better than we expect. Vincent in 2005, Snake getting into Brawl in 2006, even L-Block came from Tetris which has sold a billion copies. But SOTC was unique. It's not the most gamefaqs-y game. It came kinda out of nowhere and went on one of the greatest cinderella runs in contest history.

This one doesn't have a huge impact on future matches other than to show that MGS probably was a bit fraud-y in 2010. Actually, I think this match might be the closest match in history? Maybe something was closer in 2018, but this one capped at a 188 vote lead. Great match and a great surprise. MGS2 was the weakest of the MGS games in this contest so SOTC's run would surely end at the mighty MGS4 next round.
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tag

#1 best be Cloud/Link '03. It was the Super Bowl III of GameFAQs Contests. I think we would have never had more than BGE had it not been for this match.
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davidponte posted...

SuperNiceDog posted...

Link to the Past vs Super Metriod was important?

"Here is why this match was important"

"That match was important?"

?????

Yeah #74 importance is...unexplainable
I would suggest using the word "notable" rather than important, but ok

Edit - oh nevermind looks like you disagree with SND and defend tran
Sorry but that match really was not important
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71.



In a few years, it will be super weird to say that Cloud beating Zelda was an upset. FF7 suffered quite a bad rep this contest, a rep that extended to just about all of Square. Sephiroth looked awful, losing to Mario and then Tifa. Tifa went down hard to Samus twice. Vincent looked awful, Aerith barely beat Fox en route to getting killed by Zelda, and then guys like Squall, Auron, etc got embarrassed.

But yet here was Cloud, proving that after all these years he's still #2 on the site thanks to a great comeback against Zelda. Well, maybe. Someday we'll get the Cloud/Samus runback that we deserved this year. We got damn near every other match!
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Some good picks already.

I don't think there's a huge number of matches that can really vie for #1. Maybe I'm missing something big, but IMO it's between Mario/Cloud 2002, Link/Cloud 2003, and the L-Block final.
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I'm not trying to be elitist or anything, but it doesn't surprise me that newer members don't see the significance of LTTP demolishing Super Metroid in a pre-Mario-over-Samus world.
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transience posted...

Tifa went down hard to Samus twice.

enough with the hentai references already
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SuperNiceDog posted...

Also, Undertale vs Melee 2015 has to be top 10(eh... 25 would be ok with me, but minimum top 25)

nope

CT/Melee is the biggest match from 2015 in regards to this list, I'd wager.
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I think FFVII wound up... not bad this year, all things considered. Sephiroth was bound to lose against Mario, and the way things were looking in Rounds 1-2, Fox was becoming a favorite to beat Aeris. The fact that she fended him off (without much trouble) during the same day Zelda was anchoring the Nintendo fanbase actually looked impressive to me. And it's become lost in the fray a bit, but Tifa was a star of the contest contender. She killed Mewtwo and beat two really strong guys to win her division. She remains a Top 10 contender and can possibly beat Sonic, Mega Man, or Crono.

Sephiroth and Vincent are clearly a step down, but we know where Vincent's run would end (and he didn't look too bad against Auron). Seph's final week is what really puts a damper on FFVII, but that was unique to him and shouldn't be used as evidence against his whole game - especially since the second and more damning loss came against someone from that same game. I've argued this before, but as the only villain in these contests who is anywhere near his protagonist in popularity (Kefka being the notable exception), Seph was always an anomaly and was bound to drop before the main heroes of FFVII did.

As for Cloud... he came through for me! I wound up just outside the Top 50 this year despite only calling 4/8 division winners, and it was all because I banked on him making the grand finals through losers. My motto is if it's 1v1, Cloud gets it done.
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FFVII looked pretty solid for the most part this year, Seph/Mario aside. Even losing to Tifa wasn't...super bad.

It's been a long time since I've gotten invested in a Cloud run, too, so that was nice.
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Yeah given Tifa's (and Cloud's) strength, I really think Vincent and Sephiroth suffered from some anti-antihero voting. The new "cool" characters seem to be more the sarcastic, quippy hero types like Deadpool, Iron Man, the Chris Pratt roles, etc.--and the days of the dark, moody, uber-serious bad guys have been beaten to death over the past 20 years.

I for one long for those days to return eventually!
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Im not opposed to your FF7 takes. I just think their expectations are fundamentally lower than in the past where FF7 was a king.

I dunno about Tifa being a star - she basically lost to MMX and Mewtwo wasnt great, same as Charizard.
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transience posted...

I'm not trying to be elitist or anything, but it doesn't surprise me that newer members don't see the significance of LTTP demolishing Super Metroid in a pre-Mario-over-Samus world.

Not new but my memory is kinda fuzzy, it's been 14 years after all
But still, wasn't SFF beatdown a thing even then?
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The 2004 games contest was the first time we saw how far SFF could extend, especially in Nintendo matches. The only notable SFF beatdown in 2002-03 (off the top of my head) was Mario/DK.
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transcience posted...

I dunno about Tifa being a star - she basically lost to MMX and Mewtwo wasnt great, same as Charizard.

She didn't basically lose to X. There was only a rally for Tifa because X was rallying first. And beating X is a really good win either way.

Beating Luigi and Seph are legit victories, too.

CaptainOfCrush posted...

The 2004 games contest was the first time we saw how far SFF could extend, especially in Nintendo matches. The only notable SFF beatdown in 2002-03 (off the top of my head) was Mario/DK.

Well, we didn't even totally understand the concept of SFF until 2004. That's why Sora was so thoroughly underestimated in 2004 because he got doubled by Aerith in 2003.
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Yeah I think FF7 is solid in retrospect, but before Cloud's matches against Zelda and Mario nobody knew exactly how solid. I think most people didn't think Cloud had a shot at #2 pre-contest and this proved us wrong. It was either Mario or Snake, and they both look like they are fighting for #4 or #5 now.
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All the more reasons to question Squirtle > Cloud!

Well not really, it's better to believe Pokemon performance in 2013 was all legit
But then you need to explain why Mewtwo dropped so hard while Pikachu is about the same and I got nothing
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Nanis23 posted...

davidponte posted...

SuperNiceDog posted...

Link to the Past vs Super Metriod was important?

"Here is why this match was important"

"That match was important?"

?????

Yeah #74 importance is...unexplainable
I would suggest using the word "notable" rather than important, but ok

Edit - oh nevermind looks like you disagree with SND and defend tran
Sorry but that match really was not important

NANIS yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought I was alone like usual
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Nanis23 posted...

Well not really, it's better to believe Pokemon performance in 2013 was all legit

it's better to realize that Pokemon had insane rallies nearly every match
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People you are thinking too hard. The point is that Samus is here maybe the 2nd strongest character. And Super Metroid is the best game of her on this site at least. So we thought it would had some power. But barely scoring 26% on LTTP?
That means that the Metroid games dont' have power. Samus has yeah, but not her games.
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Nanis23 posted...

All the more reasons to question Squirtle > Cloud!

Well not really, it's better to believe Pokemon performance in 2013 was all legit
But then you need to explain why Mewtwo dropped so hard while Pikachu is about the same and I got nothing

One theory I've got is that Mewtwo and Charizard got very boosted by the mega evolutions.

But that theory is not that strong since by the time of the contest the megas were just starting to get introduced. Mega Mewtwo Y was announced just two weeks before the Vincent match, and X was only announced after the contest ended I think.
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At this point, I think Cloud might be aided from a strange "Nintendo apathy" at the tail end of contests. When it's clear that Link is on cruise control and Samus/Mario/AND NOW ZELDA are ready to wreck everything else, it's like... more acceptable or something to toss in a vote for Cloud. I'd probably favor Mario to edge him out in a hypothetical Round 2 match, but when it's Match #148 and Link is guaranteed the title, Cloud is a more appealing option.
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Well maybe the fact Mewtwo Y was announced in the middle of the contest is actually a good thing for him, I dunno.
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Nanis23 posted...

All the more reasons to question Squirtle > Cloud!

Well not really, it's better to believe Pokemon performance in 2013 was all legit
But then you need to explain why Mewtwo dropped so hard while Pikachu is about the same and I got nothing

Possibly people turning on Mega Evolutions

Also Lets go being hated only for people to find out its actually ok
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#74 remains my personal most awful result in contest history. Super Metroid is/was one of my favourite games and I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. I agree that it's important for establishing the shakiness of Metroid games in contests (compared to Samus who is a beast), the dominance of Zelda, and the SFF which exists between them.

Good list so far!
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There was also Smash hype going on in 2013 and people were screaming for Mewtwo to come back.
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The irony between Super Metroid/LTTP then is that now with the match with Majoras Mask, Super Metroids not that far behind LTTP
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70.



This match is somehow the biggest blowout of Frog's wonky 2004 run - he edged out Liquid Snake in a close one and then had an insane match with Master Chief that ended up with a miracle win after dropping the ball hard in the day to the day vote king. But this match with Solid is the only one on this list.

You can argue it should be much higher: there was so much to unpack here. Frog came in as the new hotness in 2004 after Magus was the hotness in 2003. He had a bit of bandwagon behind him, back before the idea of that was a concrete thing. But there was also Solid Snake's sprite pic to try to consider, and the general feeling was that Frog massively overperformed on Snake. This is probably the closest the N9 came to dropping a match up to that point, and it firmly established Solid Snake as the rear end of the N9.

In reality, 2004 was more likely just Chrono Trigger's year. Crono beat Mario handily in 2004 and CT beat LTTP. Those results just don't happen in most other years. The site shifted in 2005 to be more Nintendo-friendly and Frog's miracle run almost didn't matter. Frog made such an impression though that it was hard to convince people he wasn't this great contest performer until his pathetic day vote came to pass in 2007 when Axel put it on him in a real bad way.

Having written this, this probably belongs a lot higher. Oh well.
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Frog was truly a fun character to watch back in the day, from 2004-2007. Sadly he has become rather predictable.
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transience posted...

The site shifted in 2005 to be more Nintendo-friendly

Has anyone ever had a solid theory for this? The Nintendo shift was so sudden and dramatic around 2006-2007. A year earlier and FFVII had even won its second best game ever title when CJayC did that top 10 list mini contest. Does anyone else remember that?
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I remember that contest super well because I won money in it. Leon did too if I remember correctly.

I seem to recall people talking about the DS as being a potential culprit. I'll probably get into my theories on it in a future writeup.
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