Board 8 > transience presents: the top 75 matches in contest history: part 2, the top 25.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I forgot about that pic. Classic.
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Snake/Sora is a huge mismatch but it's also a legitimately brilliant pic.
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CaptainOfCrush posted...

And this might sound dumb as shit, but Melee/Morrowind is one of the funniest pictures ever to me because the first thing I thought of when I saw it was "lulz that's what's left of Tidus."

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/gotd/gotd-073.jpg

I thought this was funny. You got a chuckle out of me.
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you got me good, yoblazer
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Skimming through old matches to try and find some 'classics'

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/sc2k2/sum02b21.jpg

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/sc2k3/sum03b19.jpg

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/spc2k5/b06.jpg

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/spc2k5/b21.jpg
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http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/spc2k5/b15.jpg

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/bse2k6/bse09.jpg
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Man, the Villains Contest had some real gems, didn't it.
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haha man, the fin kills me
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http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/cb8/cb8-042.jpg

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/cb8/cb8-102.jpg
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The best part was the fin somehow winning the ASV.
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The idea of Melee failing to break 54% against Vice City is so weird I don't even know how to make sense of it

Like, if that match were run today, I would probably set the spread at like, Melee 71%? Does that seem fair? Am I underrating GTA?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1134-best-of-2002-game-of-the-year-final-vote

GTA used to be pretty strong here.
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Yeah, GTA really fell off after 2005 for whatever the reason.
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http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/gotd/gotd-010.jpg (not actually that bad, just kind of funny)

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/cb9/5229.jpg

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/cb2k6/cb557.jpg
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Eh, that's just how Captain MacMillan LOOKS, though. That's how he's dressed in the one mission you play with him. He was gonna be weak regardless, the picture really didn't do anything. It's like when people complain about GLaDOS's match pictures - she just isn't photogenic.

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/gotd/gotd-092.jpg

MGS2/SotC is my vote for one of the most lopsided pictures. On the left you have Snake looking all cool, doing what he does best, and then a blurry mess on the right where you can barely tell what's happening. I would have been pissed if my upset special had lost.
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I kinda remember thinking SMB/Madden was a pic advantage for Madden. I mean, he doesn't look bad!

BOOM!
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CaptainOfCrush posted...

I kinda remember thinking SMB/Madden was a pic advantage for Madden. I mean, he doesn't look bad!

BOOM!

Tough-actin' Tinactin!
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What happened to GTA? Yes, it's "not a GameFAQS series", but as was just pointed out, Vice City WAS very strong in 2004, and Vercetti, while overrated by casuals was a decent midcarder as well. Even CJ was probably above the fodder line in 2005. Then all of a sudden GTA blows its match to Warcraft in the Series Contest, and it's been all downhill from there. This happened well before the site's votals dropped off, and it's not like it reflects overall trends in the gaming community.
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Oh my god lettuce kefka.

Also legitimately how was schoolboy Vincent accepted?
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RoseChevalier posted...

Also legitimately how was schoolboy Vincent accepted?

The phrase "pic sabotage" gained a lot of traction that day.
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I can't believe we were talking about most imbalanced match pics and it took someone that long to mention 2013 vincent

I actually think MacMillan and Madden look fine and are fairly represented, but sometimes being fairly represented still looks really bad! You can't put the Super Mario Bros. themselves against a real-life old dude and expect GameFAQs to side with the old dude.
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Paratroopa1 posted...

I can't believe we were talking about most imbalanced match pics and it took someone that long to mention 2013 vincent

I was looking through the contests in order
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RoseChevalier posted...

Also legitimately how was schoolboy Vincent accepted?

Vincent 2013 had the most visceral reaction to a picture in years. Entire board lost it that day.
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the Nintendo boost happened. once that happened, everything mature kinda went out the door.
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BTW I would say GTA is actually kinda GameFAQsy in that it's a game that people want FAQs for

It doesn't quite 'jive' with the nintendo/jrpg culture we think of now, but I don't think it's as far off as people think

KamikazePotato posted...

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/spc2k5/b06.jpg

I love the sheer laziness of CJayC using a calendar wallpaper, and not even bothering to clone stamp out the calender portion on Vergil.

https://www.wallpaperist.com/wallpapers/Games/Devil-May-Cry/Devil-May-Cry-3/Vergil-1600-1200.jpg
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Yeah, CJayC had some really lazy match pics back in the day.

There were even a handful of times when the pic wasn't even up in time for the start of the match.
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Also, we can't talk about bad match pictures without mentioning one of the most influential bad pictures ever.

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/spc2k4/spr04b52.jpg

This one was so bad it's the reason user-submitted pictures existed in the first place.
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Tidus/Melee probably earned more FFX votes than it lost. That pic is the GOAT.
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transience posted...

the Nintendo boost happened. once that happened, everything mature kinda went out the door.

That would make sense but more mature, casual friendly entrants were doing fine in contests up to 2009/2010. Vercetti's collapse and Master Chief's boost is literally the same match.
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_SecretSquirrel posted...

KamikazePotato posted...

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/spc2k5/b06.jpg

I love the sheer laziness of CJayC using a calendar wallpaper, and not even bothering to clone stamp out the calender portion on Vergil.

https://www.wallpaperist.com/wallpapers/Games/Devil-May-Cry/Devil-May-Cry-3/Vergil-1600-1200.jpg

Lmfaooo
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LeonhartFour posted...

#8.8 makes this picture worthwhile
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LeonhartFour posted...

That one is legitimately great, if only because of TP's order number being 8.8.
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http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/cb8/cb8-124-3.jpg

Funniest part of this pic is I legit wasn't going for a mismatch and it still kind of was. I remember a bunch of people yelling at me over it.

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/gotd/gotd-114-2.jpg

The people who whined about this one are just idiots though.

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/gotd/gotd-115-4.jpg

Still the best picture ever, from our best user ever. I love yoblazer so much.
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23.



This match was gigantic. I'm pretty sure the #1 reason it was gigantic was because of the 1 and the 16 next to each other's name, though. If memory serves, you only got one nomination per console. Halo was literally the only Xbox game of note whereas Starcraft had to deal with the entire history of PC games. It was a bad system. Everything about spring 2004 was a bad idea, really. And it was amazing despite itself.

Make this match an 8-9 and it doesn't have the same level of hype. I still think it's a huge result though, even though no one should really pick Halo to be a huge favourite after watching Master Chief struggle with a dude named Felix. PC games were utter garbage in these contests. Probably the most notable example of a PC character was Gordon Freeman and he was the ultimate laughingstock by the time spring 2004 came around. Starcraft? It was hard to really believe in Starcraft. But it was also hard to see Halo going anywhere. I have no way to verify this, but I bet most people had it losing to Kingdom Hearts in the next round. (speaking of super odd results: Kingdom Hearts/Soul Calibur. I think Janus took Soul Calibur to beat Metal Gear in the series contest based off of that result alone. spring 2004, man. there won't ever be another like it.)

This match was an intense back and forth. Starcraft killed the night and Halo killed the day. Halo got up 1100 votes with 5 and a half hours to go and then Starcraft just went to work. It looked like it was probably going too slow and then, suddenly, it was over. It took like an hour and a half for a 600 vote lead to disappear.

And with that, Starcraft, and possibly the biggest natural bandwagon we've ever seen, was born.
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LeonhartFour posted...

Anyone from the 08-09 clan who whines about pic sabotage when trash like that was submitted for almost every match can piss off. Worst era of pictures ever, including Ceej's. Half the reason I started smithing was because I knew I could do better.
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transience posted...

I have no way to verify this, but I bet most people had it losing to Kingdom Hearts in the next round.

I had KH > Metroid Prime in the upper half of Division 128.
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Anyone have Snake/Sora? I don't remember it.
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transience posted...

23.



This match was gigantic. I'm pretty sure the #1 reason it was gigantic was because of the 1 and the 16 next to each other's name, though. If memory serves, you only got one nomination per console. Halo was literally the only Xbox game of note whereas Starcraft had to deal with the entire history of PC games. It was a bad system. Everything about spring 2004 was a bad idea, really. And it was amazing despite itself.

Make this match an 8-9 and it doesn't have the same level of hype. I still think it's a huge result though, even though no one should really pick Halo to be a huge favourite after watching Master Chief struggle with a dude named Felix. PC games were utter garbage in these contests. Probably the most notable example of a PC character was Gordon Freeman and he was the ultimate laughingstock by the time spring 2004 came around. Starcraft? It was hard to really believe in Starcraft. But it was also hard to see Halo going anywhere. I have no way to verify this, but I bet most people had it losing to Kingdom Hearts in the next round. (speaking of super odd results: Kingdom Hearts/Soul Calibur. I think Janus took Soul Calibur to beat Metal Gear in the series contest based off of that result alone. spring 2004, man. there won't ever be another like it.)

This match was an intense back and forth. Starcraft killed the night and Halo killed the day. Halo got up 1100 votes with 5 and a half hours to go and then Starcraft just went to work. It looked like it was probably going too slow and then, suddenly, it was over. It took like an hour and a half for a 600 vote lead to disappear.

And with that, Starcraft, and possibly the biggest natural bandwagon we've ever seen, was born.

-That's how nominations worked, yeah.

-Pretty much all of us had it losing to Kingdom Hearts.

-Nothing natural about it, as we saw with the Melee match. Ceej was terrible about cheating. It was sad how easy it actually was to do.
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Anagram posted...

Anyone have Snake/Sora? I don't remember it.

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/sc2k5/br51.jpg
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-Nothing natural about it, as we saw with the Melee match. Ceej was terrible about cheating. It was sad how easy it actually was to do.

oh of course - but there was also serious excitement around what Starcraft was doing. it was both.
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LeonhartFour posted...

Oh man, okay, thanks. This is wonderful.
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I'm actually in the elusive Starcraft > Halo club myself. Don't really know why I went with it, but it let me have a decent top side of the 128 division.
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Also, I had Starcraft winning 2004, so I correctly guessed it would be Halo and then failed completely by the end.
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Anagram posted...

LeonhartFour posted...

Oh man, okay, thanks. This is wonderful.

Yeah this is the most clever one we've ever had. Anyone know the user who made it? Or was this before submissions?
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That was a CJayC special.
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