Board 8 > think you know the contests well? here's some character battle contest trivia.

(+) Yeah! (+)

okay, here's what I've been working on. I'm really proud of this for some weird reason. watch and enjoy!

https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/2428210/

this will answer a few of the trivia questions. I'll write out more detailed answers to them later tonight or tomorrow depending on how many more guesses we have. it also might spur on some more discussion/guesses.

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Surprise Dante appearance

I forgot about his deep runs in 2007 and 2008

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yeah, I didn't include Dante in the options because I didn't think anybody would pick him. my pick was actually Ryu because he always does well, has been around since the beginning and doesn't have any bad matches where he gets stuck with Cloud or Link or whatever. but, he also doesn't have many deep runs because he has this habit of running into a NN dude in round 2.

Dante has this amazing 2007 run where he rides overlap to the semifinals thanks to Pikachu which helps him out a lot. he also has this well documented habit of going really big against weak opponents time after time before disappointing, and that helps in a thing like this.

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But yeah, looking at polls, the Villains Contest got way higher vote totals than I remembered!

Also, I'm wondering if Sonic is dead last in vote totals for the Noble Nine because he has the fewest wins or because he's been blown out an embarrassing number of times!

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this project really reminded me of how dominant the NN is. there's the NN and then there's everyone else playing on a different tier. I almost feel like I need to make a viz that removes them just to show all the variety underneath the top tier.

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I think I'd have considered Dante before Ryu because like you said, Ryu doesn't have a lot of deep contest runs.

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cheater mario surging past crono at the end there

typical

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The villains contest surge made me think Sephiroth might end up in second lol.

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my favourite is Cloud being in 9th place heading into the 2006 TOC.

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I dont know why I forgot about the Villains contest for #3. Both Ganon and Bowser had many rounds of blowing up fodder.

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transience posted...

my favourite is Cloud being in 9th place heading into the 2006 TOC.

Those 2006 vote totals, man

Where does Seph rank if you omit the Villains Contest altogether?

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Yeah, I thought I screwed up second highest vote total for a while just because it was so much to catch up on.

It was also funny to see Samus take the lead for a while. Got the easier opponents that year lol.

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Sephiroth got 322,522 votes from the villain contest. so, below Samus, but above the others.

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and since I know youll ask, Bowser would be below Squall and others without it too

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Yeah, I figured he would be. Like I said, I underestimated how many votes that contest got. I thought it was in the 50s or 60s!

Did you keep track of how many votes characters got per contest? I'm wondering what the single highest contest total is.

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yeah, I have it by round. I can do a deep dive on all that tonight or tomorrow after I get back to answering the first post questions.

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transience posted...

okay, here's what I've been working on. I'm really proud of this for some weird reason. watch and enjoy!

https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/2428210/

this will answer a few of the trivia questions. I'll write out more detailed answers to them later tonight or tomorrow depending on how many more guesses we have. it also might spur on some more discussion/guesses.

I find stuff like this extremely satisfying

Nice

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1. Who has been in the most character battle matches? (Link | Cloud | Sephiroth | Solid Snake | Samus) - I considered Sephiroth too, because of the Villains Contest, but going through the two of them in my head, Snake got a lead after 2006, and I don't see Seph catching up.

1. Link has the highest single match vote total in contest history (oddly enough, in a fourway match). Who is second? (L-Block | Cloud | Zelda | Draven | Samus) - Female Bracket, y'all.

1. Which non-Noble Nine member has received the most total votes in contest history? (Bowser | Squall | Ganondorf | Ryu | Kirby) - Been in every contest, never gotten blown out, and between him and Ryu, I think he has deeper runs in the most popular years.

1. Which franchise has been in the most character battle matches? (Sonic | Mega Man | Pokemon | Chrono) - Considered Pokmon, because of how many there are, but even in 2010, I went through in my head, and Pokmon was only in one more match. I don't think that the craziness of 2013 would be enough then to make up for years of neglect.

1. Which of these Final Fantasy VII characters has received the most total votes? (Aeris | Tifa | Vincent | Zack) - Female Bracket, y'all.

1. Which contest gathered the most total votes? (2003 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2010) - Double the matches = more votes?

1. Which winless character has gathered the most votes? (Guybrush Threepwood | Ramza | Kratos Aurion | Cecil | CATS) - It's definitely not Guybrush, and probably not Ramza either. CATS has a lot of matches to his name even if they are mostly blowouts.

1. Which non-Noble Nine member has the highest average number of votes across all their contest matches (minimum 10 contest matches)? (Dante | Master Chief | Aeris | Yoshi | Yuna) - Female bracket, y'all.

1. Which of these Pokemon characters has received the most total votes? (Charizard | Mewtwo | Red | Missingno) - His 2008 run probably isn't that many fewer votes than Charizard's 2010, and aside from that he has more matches.

1. Which Noble Nine member has the least number of contest matches? (Mega Man | Sonic | Solid Snake | Crono | Mario) - Too many early exits.

1. Which "kain" has the most contest votes? (Kain (Legacy of Cain) | Kaim Argonar | Kane | Caim | Kain Highwind) - I believe that he's the only one of these guys to be in more than one contest, and he didn't do that horrible in his first loss to Kirby.

1. How many characters have received less total votes than Tanner? (0 | 4 | 11 | 28) - Ms. Pac-Man, Chester, Spring Breeze, Caim?

1. Link has the most votes in contest history. Who is second? (Cloud | Solid Snake | Sephiroth | Samus) - Why not?

1. Which franchise has the most character battle wins? (Half-Life | Fire Emblem | Portal | Mass Effect | Mother/Earthbound) - I tried to figure this out in my head, and I think that is what I got.

1. Which perennial contest failure has received the most contest votes? (Kefka | Tidus | Magus | Donkey Kong) - Is less of a failure than some others on the list. Magus did make the Sweet Sixteen in a popular year, which is tempting, but I'm going with DK.

1. How many of the top 25 highest voted characters were developed outside of Japan? (0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9) - MC?

1. The worst winning percentage for a contest character who has won a match is 12.5% (1-7). Who is it? (Lloyd Irving | Laharl | Ratchet | Wesker | Sam Fisher) I don't think the others would have been in that many other contests.

1. Which of these Metal Gear Solid characters has received the most total votes? (Big Boss | Liquid Snake | Revolver Ocelot) - Thank you Office Tenpenny

1. Which of these series' has had the most character battle matches? (Fire Emblem | Tales of | Xeno- | Starfox | Ace Attorney) - I think that's what I figured out. Xeno and fire Emblem were close though.

1. Which 'sidekick' character has the most contest wins? (Knuckles | Zero | Yoshi | Vivi) - Got 15, I think.

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Aeris was in the female bracket, too!

Also 2010 had twice the matches but in only half the time!

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Leonhart4 posted...

Aeris was in the female bracket, too!

Also 2010 had twice the matches but in only half the time!

She wasn't tripling her opponents though. Also, IIRC Samus Vs. Tifa had around 145,000 votes or something crazy like that.

2010 was a gamble, but I think that the average AM match was around 55000 voted and the average PM match was around 75000 so I think it might come close to 2008. I didn't realize until just now that 2006 has five extra matches though.

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Oh, I'm talking about Yuna/Aerith. Yuna only really destroyed her first opponent, and Aerith did, too. It's an average though, so you also have to take into account how badly they get beaten when they lose.

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1. Who has been in the most character battle matches? (Link | Cloud | Sephiroth | Solid Snake | Samus)
2. Link has the highest single match vote total in contest history (oddly enough, in a fourway match). Who is second? (L-Block | Cloud | Zelda | Draven | Samus)
3. Which non-Noble Nine member has received the most total votes in contest history? (Bowser | Squall | Ganondorf | Ryu | Kirby)
4. Which franchise has been in the most character battle matches? (Sonic | Mega Man | Pokemon | Chrono)
5. Which of these Final Fantasy VII characters has received the most total votes? (Aeris | Tifa | Vincent | Zack)
6. Which contest gathered the most total votes? (2003 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2010)
7. Which winless character has gathered the most votes? (Guybrush Threepwood | Ramza | Kratos Aurion | Cecil | CATS)
8. Which non-Noble Nine member has the highest average number of votes across all their contest matches (minimum 10 contest matches)? (Dante | Master Chief | Aeris | Yoshi | Yuna)
9. Which of these Pokemon characters has received the most total votes? (Charizard | Mewtwo | Red | Missingno)
10. Which Noble Nine member has the least number of contest matches? (Mega Man | Sonic | Solid Snake | Crono | Mario)
11. Which "kain" has the most contest votes? (Kain (Legacy of Cain) | Kaim Argonar | Kane | Caim | Kain Highwind)
12. How many characters have received less total votes than Tanner? (0 | 4 | 11 | 28)
13. Link has the most votes in contest history. Who is second? (Cloud | Solid Snake | Sephiroth | Samus)
14. Which franchise has the most character battle wins? (Half-Life | Fire Emblem | Portal | Mass Effect | Mother/Earthbound)
15. Which perennial contest failure has received the most contest votes? (Kefka | Tidus | Magus | Donkey Kong)
16. How many of the top 25 highest voted characters were developed outside of Japan? (0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9)
17. The worst winning percentage for a contest character who has won a match is 12.5% (1-7). Who is it? (Lloyd Irving | Laharl | Ratchet | Wesker | Sam Fisher)
18. Which of these Metal Gear Solid characters has received the most total votes? (Big Boss | Liquid Snake | Revolver Ocelot)
19. Which of these series' has had the most character battle matches? (Fire Emblem | Tales of | Xeno- | Starfox | Ace Attorney)
20. Which 'sidekick' character has the most contest wins? (Knuckles | Zero | Yoshi | Vivi)

okay, here goes:

Who has been in the most character battle matches? (Link | Cloud | Sephiroth | Solid Snake | Samus)

Here, have another race visualization: https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/2461470/

2006 is kind of cheating for Snake as he got to be in 10 matches. Everyone talks about the Villain Contest but that was only 5 matches. I haven't run the numbers on Leonhart's request for who got the most votes in a contest but I'm almost definitely sure that it's Snake. The only other character with a run like that is 2018 Zelda and the vote totals were 1/5 what they were in 2006.

Sephiroth should be the guy here because he had not one, but two contests that he got in that the rest of the NN had to skip. Sephiroth mega-bombed the 2018 final bracket though. I was thinking yesterday about how Bowser/Sephiroth was such a crazy overperformance in the 2005 villains contest and how that's a legitimate tossup in 2020. What a bomb.

I'll talk about Sonic and Crono in a later post.

Link has the highest single match vote total in contest history (oddly enough, in a fourway match). Who is second? (L-Block | Cloud | Zelda | Draven | Samus)

I forget who, but somebody called me on this one: Draven and L-Block are complete bait. I had to come up with something to make Zelda look like she belonged, because if I put four NN characters and Zelda, it would have been a little more obvious.

Here are the top five:

1. Link - 103465, 2007 round 1 vs. Agent J, Bidoof and Miles Edgeworth
2. Zelda - 102509, 2006 round 1 vs. Carmen Sandiego
3. Yuna - 97716, 2006 round 1 vs. Roll
4. Tifa - 96118, 2006 round 1 vs. Ivy Valentine
5. Samus - 95533, 2006 round 1 vs. Nidoran F (imagine this match today)

So yeah, 2006 is a beast and the female bracket was the very opposite of that. It was like Game of the Decade 2 where maybe 5 or 6 characters were worth much and the rest were just junk.

For the record, here are L and Draven's best numbers. They're not close to the top 10.

L-Block - 65462 vs. Link/Cloud/Snake
Draven - 73396 vs. Snake/Samus

And finally, the top performance by contest:

2002 - 69544 - Link vs. Scorpion
2003 - 94086, Cloud vs. CATS
2004 - 77605, Sephiroth vs. Sly Cooper
2005 Villains - 70458, Sephiroth vs. Ramirez
2005 - 80185, Mario vs. Joanna Dark
2006 - 102509, Zelda
2007 - 103465, Link
2008 - 82662, Link vs. Zidane/Shadow/Luke fon Fabre
2010 - 69074, Link vs. Cloud (24 hour matches help!)
2013 - 73396, Draven
2018 - 25584, Amaterasu vs. Draven

Which non-Noble Nine member has received the most total votes in contest history? (Bowser | Squall | Ganondorf | Ryu | Kirby)

The viz I posted earlier more or less explains this one. Bowser has two major advantages: the villain contest, and the 2018 winners/losers bracket. 2018 had low vote totals but an extra 3 matches vs. Alucard/Crono/Crono means that Bowser was second only to Zelda in total votes that year. Not bad for a guy who should have lost to Kirby.

Bowser is actually in his own tier between the Noble Nine and everyone else. He's 130,000 votes above 11th place, Ganondorf, a guy who should honestly be in 10th because he was lucky enough to not have to face Sephiroth until the final in the villain contest. But Ganondorf has his own problems, things like dropping that Mario/Vivi match or the dreadful 2004 Link match where he got obliterated. If you want to take the villain contest factor out, Dante edges out Squall by a few thousand votes for the title. Ryu is in 18th.

Which franchise has been in the most character battle matches? (Sonic | Mega Man | Pokemon | Chrono)

This is actually extremely close, to the point that I almost didn't post it in case I missed some obscure Pokemon or Mega Man character.

Mega Man - 88 (57-31, 9 unique characters)
Pokemon - 86 (54-32, *15* unique characters)
Sonic - 85 (46-39, 7 unique characters)
Chrono - 72 (43-29, 6 unique characters)

These franchises are 4-7 in total matches. I'll let you guess the other 3 in order, and maybe even guess some numbers if you want. Here's a fun hint: #1 is more than all four of these combined.

this is getting kinda long so I'm going to pause here and post, and I'll get back to this in a couple of hours.


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Man, I did not realize Mega Man had that many unique characters in the battles.

Mega Man
X
Zero
Protoman
Dr. Wily
Sigma
Roll
Metal Man
Servbot

Most of them are one offs, but three of them being heavy hitters is enough to strike a balance.

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I imagine #1 is Final Fantasy just because of the sheer number of characters (a lot of them capable of winning multiple matches). #2 is Mario, similarly because it has a lot of characters. Then Zelda is #3 because Link is that dominant.

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Are we counting Smash Bros. or Marvel vs.?

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WarThaNemesis2 posted...

Are we counting Smash Bros. or Marvel vs.?

I imagine it has to be series of origin because otherwise it's just not fair. Most of the Noble Nine is in Smash at this point!

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oh whoops, I meant 5-8, not 4-7. I had Mario filtered out of my data and didnt notice.

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#4 would be Street Fighter, possibly? It's got just enough recurring characters and one offs, with Ryu almost always getting to Round 3, if not further.

If not, RE and Metroid (through sheer amount of Samus late exits) would be my next choices.

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#4 would probably be Metal Gear, by virtue of Snake and a bunch of characters able to do 'just enough', multiple villain contest spots, etc.

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I'm going to guess Final Fantasy for #1 (seems obvious), Mario for #2 (has lots of successful characters), Zelda for #3, and Metal Gear for #4 (these two are very close; Snake has more matches than Link and a greater supporting roster, but Zelda/Ganon make their series a case of quality > quantity).

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Oh right, Metal Gear. Another series that has a boatload of one off characters and decent recurring midcarders.

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Yeah, #4 is probably Metal Gear. You've got Snake, Liquid, Ocelot, Big Boss, and The Boss. Even Otacon once!

Street Fighter has had surprisingly few characters despite the size of its roster, and Ryu is really the only one worth multiple wins per contest.

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SF has actually had 8 characters. good luck naming them!

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transcience posted...

SF has actually had 8 characters. good luck naming them!

Let's see. Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Bison, Akuma, Guile...

Dan and Sagat if you count rivals!

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Leonhart4 posted...

Let's see. Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Bison, Akuma, Guile...

Dan and Sagat if you count rivals!

Dan was also in CBIX.

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Oh right, he was the ultra fodder in CBIX. I can't keep track of everyone who was in that contest. Is there another SF character in there that slipped past my notice? I know Cammy and Sakura have never been in, and I'd guess they're the most popular who haven't been in yet (and Vega, probably).

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I only got those six as well.

Was Wesker or someone a secret playable character in something?

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Yesmar_ posted...

I only got those six as well.

Was Wesker or someone a secret playable character in something?

Nah, SF hasn't had crossovers in the main series. They've been the ones doing the crossing over!

Well, unless you count Final Fight, I guess.

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Poison is in Street Fighter, but she originated in Final Fight, so who knows if she counts.

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WarThaNemesis2 posted...

Poison is in Street Fighter, but she originated in Final Fight, so who knows if she counts.

Oh right, Poison, who was surprisingly not terrible!

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Obviously you should count Mega Man in Street Fighter X Tekken

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I dont know how I remembered this, but the other SF character is Poison unless were just calling her a Final Fight character and its actually someone else
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If Poison counts, shouldn't Mike Hagger count?

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_SecretSquirrel posted...

If Poison counts, shouldn't Mike Hagger count?

Haggar has never been in a Street Fighter game!

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only Guy and Cody! yeah Poison is the 8th, and I think of her as a Street Fighter character though maybe I shouldn't. oh well!

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anyway, here are the top four:

Final Fantasy (363 matches, 36 characters)
Mario (168 matches, 12 characters)
Zelda (126 matches, 8 characters)
Metal Gear (110 matches, 9 characters)


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Nailed it

I'm surprised Zelda has had eight!

Link, Zelda, Ganon, Tingle, Epona, Groose...who else?

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Leonhart4 posted...

Link, Zelda, Ganon, Tingle, Epona, Groose...who else?

Midna

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Oh right, totally forgot about her. Who's the 8th though?

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