Board 8 > How would they do in the contest? Day 344 ft Wolf Link, Saitama, Aika

(+) Yeah! (+)

This is a topic to rate the contest strength of potential newcomers in the current contest environment.

I will pick the characters to rate and discuss for each day from user nominations - whoever the 3 most nominated characters are at that time. If there are more than 3 I will pick randomly. You can nominate any number of characters at any time, but you cannot nominate the same character twice.

All characters who were present in the 2018 Character Battle will NOT be eligible. Otherwise you can nominate any character that has appeared in video games; even comic book characters. This will exclude real-life athletes who have only appeared in long running sports series, however I will accept those who have their own games such as Shaq. I will accept nominations for iconic gaming duos too, if there is a compelling reason for both characters to be linked (either co-starring in a game ala Banjo & Kazooie, or always appearing together like Callie & Marie from Splatoon).

Each day will have a separate topic, and nominations will carry over. As far as actually rating the character's contest strength; I ask that users rank a characters potential strength with one of the following qualifiers - LAW Fodder, Low Fodder, Mid Fodder, High Fodder, Fodder Line, Low Midcarder, Midcarder, High Midcarder, Near Elite, Elite, LAW Tier (capable of beating Link). I will average all the ratings given to a character to come up with their final ranking. I have included a highlighted entrant from Character Battle X on each tier of the strength rankings below, to provide a baseline for each.

Note that LAW Fodder is meant to be a tier reserved for the weakest possible characters to put into a contest. A character will only be placed there if at least 3/4ths of the voters for that day agree on the LAW Fodder rating, and no ratings above Low Fodder are given. If either of those conditions are not met, the character will not be eligible for the LAW Fodder tier.

Current Character Strength Rankings: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P1AIhHywBiLd6VAMZMNEGX-HW2td8u1D0Iw_tzHsORw/edit?usp=sharing

Nomination List: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-KnSBDzppzPK5Ug1zmx8_x0bG4tqFDMPPH2k8J3s8sk/edit?usp=sharing

If you feel that a character has been over or under-ranked, or if a new development has come up that would affect their contest strength, you may nominate them for a re-ranking. You may nominate one character per day for this, and 3 votes are needed to get them on the slate. One character with 3 votes will come up for re-ranking today.

Re-ranking Nomination List: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V6dx-tu-FD1rCxbX69eQwEzE7x1F6nNRNFochYHu1dc/edit?usp=sharing

Results from Day 343:

Welkin Gunther (Valkyria Chronicles) is Low Fodder
Aiai (Super Monkey Ball) is Low Fodder
Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Marvel) is Low Fodder

Here is today's trio to rank:

Wolf Link (Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
Saitama (One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows)
Aika (Skies of Arcadia)

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Nominate:
Kaim Argonar (Lost Odyssey)
Parappa (Parappa the Rapper)
Sissel (Ghost Trick)
Raz (Psychonauts)
Carmen Sandiego (Carmen Sandiego)
Sypha Belnades (Castlevania)
Shanoa (Castlevania)
Sho Minamimoto (The World Ends With You)
Nathan Hale (Resistance)
Yellow (M&M's Kart Racing)
Ivan Drago (Rocky)
Osmund Saddler (Resident Evil 4)
Volgin (Metal Gear Solid 3)

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nomation the Duck in duck hunt

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Looking at the favorite Zelda game polls from the past few years, Twilight Princess generally places a bit behind Wind Waker. It definitely has no shortage of fans, but it is in an awkward spot due to its release date. It isn't old enough to get childhood nostalgia votes, but it is old enough for its flaws to be well-documented.

For Wolf Link, I think he will suffer a bit for not actually looking like Link and get a (small) amount of TP anti-votes. I'll say Fodder Line because he IS still Link, and the Wolf provided a memorable gameplay shift in the game.

Saitama I will say Low Fodder, but it is very close. He doesn't yet have much of an impact on gaming and One Punch Man in general is too recent to have a great watch rate on Gfaqs. But I do think he and OPM are a lot more respected than Naruto and the like, due to effectively parodying the "Invincible Hero" and other Shonen anime tropes.

Low Fodder for Aika. Skies of Arcadia is probably still decently strong on the site, but Aika strikes me as a "love her or hate her" type of character.

nominate:

Kaim Argonar (Lost Odyssey)
Sissel (Ghost Trick)
Raz (Psychonauts)
Carmen Sandiego (Carmen Sandiego)
Shanoa (Castlevania)
Sho Minamimoto (The World Ends With You)
Volgin (Metal Gear Solid 3)

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Wolf Link (Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess) - Low Midcarder

Who even knows though

Saitama (One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows) - Low fodder

One Punch Man is popular, acclaimed, and has enough appeal outside of usual anime fans that mid fodder is plausible but gamefaqs's tastes tend to be so conservative that I'd guess he's not there.

Aika (Skies of Arcadia) - Low fodder

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Agree with Axem. Nominate PaRappa, Carmen Sandiego, and Volgin.

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Day 345 is up: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78712084

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