Board 8 > How would they do in a contest? Day 483 ft Minecraft Steve, SF3 Alex, Undyne

(+) 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 482:

The End (Metal Gear Solid 3) is Low Fodder
Auric Goldfinger (007: Nightfire) is Low Fodder
Sigurd (Fire Emblem Geneology of the Holy War) is Low Fodder

Here is today's trio to rank:

Steve (Minecraft)
Alex (Street Fighter III)
Undyne (Undertale)

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I don't feel confident about this call, but I will say Mid Fodder for Steve. He seemed to be low fodder of some variety back in 2013, and Minecraft did 'OK' in GOTD2. Most Minecraft players generally create their characters instead of playing a default, but Steve is pretty well-known as the main default. I think the Smash announcement will be enough to push him to mid. At least until he proves to be busted in competitive Smash play and thus will have to deal with anti-votes from Smash players.

I almost want to say mid for Alex based on him technically being the main character of the SF3 series, and his resemblance to Hulk Hogan. But I will say Low Fodder for him since I think he may get a SF5 match pic, which severely downplays his resemblance to Hogan. Plus Alex only had a few niche playable appearances in fighting games between SF3 Third Strike (2000) and SF5 DLC (2017).

Low Fodder for Undyne. If Sans can barely manage mid fodder range I don't think anyone else from Undertale has a shot to be worth anything. Even taking into account Sans' anti-votes.

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Re-rank Bidoof

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Same rankings as halfsilver.

Minecraft looked a good bit better this year than in 2015 so Steve was probably somewhat better too regardless of Smash. Id be more tempted to high fodder than low but Ill wait at least until hes actually playable before proposing Steves gonna beast or whatever.

I dont think gamefaqs has generally played or cares about Street Fighter III so Alex is stuck in Low.

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I'm going to say Low Fodder for all three.

I get where Mid for Steve is coming from considering that passable 2013 result came during Minecraft's nadir here as the casual bait du jour of the time, and after GotD 2, it's safe to say we've grown to grudgingly respect the game since then. There's also Smash, of course, but I don't think that helps much if at all considering how fervently this site's demographic seemed to hope against Steve ever being added to Smash beforehand. That's really the clincher for me - give hard evidence that Steve wouldn't have to deal with any significant amount of antivotes from our entitled Smash fanbase and I'd agree with Mid in a heartbeat.

I'll also nominate Marth for reranking. His past results were never very impressive, and I find it more likely he's gotten worse since 2013 than improved considering how touchy a subject Fire Emblem's presence in the Smash series has become in that time. Among characters relying on Smash for the bulk of their strength here, the likes of Falco, Meta Knight, and King Dedede feel like much better comparisons than Ike (an actual Fire Emblem fan favorite who's increasingly superseding Marth as FE's Western icon) and Captain Falcon.

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second re-ranking Marth. The general disdain towards FE's presence in Smash plus Marth not being a hugely relevant character in his series for the west may lead to a drop for him.

Day 484 is up: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79034666

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