Board 8 > So I made a mock Game of the 90s bracket.

(+) Yeah! (+)

AxemRedRanger posted...

So I thought of some snubs not previously mentioned:
-Harvest Moon 64 probably trumps original Harvest Moon? Did anyone actually play the latter back in the day? That release date in the U.S. and Europe was brutally late for a SNES game. Never played anything in this franchise myself but I'd figure 64 is actually the nostalgic game here and the original is the one people tried later after enjoying other games in the series, and, based on gamefaqs average rating, probably didn't like quite as much. (Also, neither one is beating Starcraft)
-Not sure it'd be much stronger but Breath of Fire III is way more likely to make a bracket than II. Just considerably more people out there who swear by III to this day as one of their favorite PS1 games than would do the same for either SNES BoF.
-Super Punch-Out is a pretty good, sorta-well known game in a Nintendo franchise. It doesn't quite have the notoriety of its older brother and I don't think it's outright loved by many so it making the bracket might be dubious but it might make not-terrible filler. And hey, it's on the SNES Classic
-Terranigma never got a U.S. release despite an official English translation and it's kind of notorious for it but the game is very well-regarded and is the kind of niche SNES RPG thing I could see making the bracket, especially with Dragon Quest V and Seiken Densetsu 3 in there. It'd of course be really weak if it actually got in!

Now when it came for the more foddery games, I tried to go with as much diversity as possible, and tried not to rely on a weaker series for more than one entrant. This is where nomination data would really come in handy in deciding which particular entries of a series would make the contest (such as Crash 2 vs. 3 or BoF 2 vs. 3), and which ones didn't, and of course I am going to have some blind spots in these series I just haven't played. Terranigma is one of them, and I probably sub it in for SD3 since Secret of Mana is representing that series, in a winnable match no less. Super Punch Out might be a decent entry, but I've already got a few games on the snub list that deserve the representation more.
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_SecretSquirrel posted...

The other was keeping Ocarina away from the likes of FF7, Chrono Trigger, and Pokemon until the finals. Those are the only three games I can see pulling the big upset, but I really think they have a better shot in the context of the contest finals with everything at stake, as opposed to bonus. I'm not really fond of taking games out of the bracket, especially CT which hasn't won a contest, and we always see those late rounds looking a little weird, so I'd rather use the second half of the bracket to crown a decisive number 2 game, and hope it can give Ocarina a close match in the finals.

To me, this was a really good choice. Quite simply, CT looked definitely ahead of Ocarina in their respective first three rounds of 2015, enough so that a finals match between the two would have at least been quite close. Personally, I think CT's moved in the wrong direction in comparison to Ocarina since then, but that only puts Ocarina as a slight favorite for me. And even if you think CT deserves to be an underdog against FF7, your bracketmaking approaches ideal circumstances for the winner of the bottom half to shine against Ocarina.

As for Mario RPG vs. Super Metroid, I still don't think that would be all that close. You say that the two games looked similar in 2015, but comparing bandwagon-less Mario RPG to Super Metroid, you get 55% on Oblivion vs. 49% on Majora's Mask. That makes me quite skeptical, but I suppose it would be difficult to devise a more interesting matchup for Super Metroid - maybe Mario 3, but even then, I'm not confident Super Metroid would be able to stand up to it.

Also, I disagree with Haste's notion that a 90s bracket should be made to ensure that something non-Squintendo reaches the semi-finals, considering how much weaker the main contenders are versus the Squintendo top 10. (Plus, Mega Man X is quasi-Nintendo anyways). One division is fine to me, but two whole divisions devoted to that end would be a big drag on the bracket. 2015 was different because it at least had a healthy amount of major non-Squintendo contenders on paper (Oblivion, RE4, MGS, MGS3, several other games to a lesser extent), whereas a 90s bracket would only have MMX, SotN, MGS, and maybe Sonic 2 / S3&K (though the former looked pedestrian in 2015).
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CT aint beating Super Mario 64
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MetalmindStats posted...

As for Mario RPG vs. Super Metroid, I still don't think that would be all that close. You say that the two games looked similar in 2015, but comparing bandwagon-less Mario RPG to Super Metroid, you get 55% on Oblivion vs. 49% on Majora's Mask. That makes me quite skeptical, but I suppose it would be difficult to devise a more interesting matchup for Super Metroid - maybe Mario 3, but even then, I'm not confident Super Metroid would be able to stand up to it.

Super Metroid is an a bit of an akward place in the 2015 xstats. It's a bit below FF6 (which is where I'm drawing the line between elite and upper-midcard), but it's still decently above Mario RPG and everything else, making it a statistical island on its own. If it's really that strong, it's actually more likely it gives FF6 a match, which is one of the reasons I'd probably switch Divisions 2 and 3 to give the upset a chance.

However, there's still a lot of merit in testing its floor as well, because its path in 2015 went through the sequence of LttP > Majora > Super Metroid. If it's being overvalued at all due to any SFF weirdness (LTTP vs. Majora also followed Undertale vs. RBY which is believed to have favored Majora), it could now be in range of being upset by Mario RPG or Castlevania SotN.
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_SecretSquirrel posted...

It's a bit below FF6 (which is where I'm drawing the line between elite and upper-midcard), but it's still decently above Mario RPG and everything else, making it a statistical island on its own.

I definitely agree with this, yeah. I'm skeptical SM could seriously contend to beat top-tier Mario, Zelda, or FF, whereas SFF weirdness or Zelda antivoting or whatever else could have overrated SM a bit. Plus, if SM does convincingly beat SotN and Mario RPG, like I'm expecting, that would be a nice way to definitively prove its strength.

Also, SND, I don't see why CT couldn't beat Mario 64? It's not a sure thing, I'll concede, but 65.5% on FFX and a likely 63% on unrallied Melee in 2015 compares quite favorably to 57% on Twilight Princess and 61% on Skyrim (in a match where it likely fared a bit better than it would have naturally due to rallies). And yes, such a match isn't going to be necessarily all about the numbers, but you have to stop and notice them when they're skewed so strongly in one direction.
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