Board 8 > The 128 Greatest GameFAQS Contest Matches of All Time

(+) Yeah! (+)

Pic should have said "Hale". No one calls him Nathan! He isn't Drake here

Legit had to look up who Nathan Hale was.

LeonhartFour posted...

Zolomy deserved better than getting stuck against Cloud in its lone match

I agree. Its lone match should have been against Sephiroth instead.

pjbasis posted...

Pic should have said "Hale". No one calls him Nathan! He isn't Drake here

This match does predate Uncharted 1's release, so it's not like there would be anyone really confusing the two Nathans here.

I actually meant in universe, like Drake gets his first name used by other characters.

75. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty vs. Shadow of the Colossus (Fall 2010) R2

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f387cf69.jpg

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 49.96% 26930
Shadow of the Colossus 50.04% 26975
TOTAL VOTES 53905
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/(7)Metal_Gear_Solid_2:_Sons_of_Liberty_vs_(2)Shadow_of_the_Colossus_2010
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/4160-west-division-round-2-metal-gear-solid-2-vs-shadow-of-the

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater vs. Shadow of the Colossus (Fall 2010) R4

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d8688605.jpg

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 50.62% 19586
Shadow of the Colossus 49.38% 19107
TOTAL VOTES 38693
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/(1)Metal_Gear_Solid_3:_Snake_Eater_vs_(2)Shadow_of_the_Colossus_2010
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/4187-west-division-final-metal-gear-solid-3-vs-shadow-of-the

If the 2004 Contest was the king of SFF, than the Game of the Decade contest in 2010 was its little brother. In order to keep up diversity in the bracket, Bacon had set up a lot of Divisional Finals (or even earlier) between games from the same series, hoping to prevent the big names from dominating the bracket as they had done in years past. Regardless of what you might have felt about this systems tendencey to pit strong games together early, it did lead to several close and debated matches. And in the West Division there was debate not just between two games, but between three: Metal Gear Solids 2, 3, and 4. While 4 > 3 > 2 had appeared to be the clear ranking of them a year and a half ago in the 2009 contest, MGS4s buzz had already started to fade, and so there was a bit of debate as to how this whole ranking would shake out a year and a half later. However, while the setup would be the same as many other divisions in the contest, the way that things played out would go very differently.

Round 1 started as normal for all three games as they all dispatched their opponents with ease, and Round 2 looked to be more of the same. MGS4 had a bit more trouble with Diablo II, but it still managed to safely beat the Blizzard title, no slouch in its own right. MGS2/Shadow of the Colossus was considered an afterthought. SOTC had seemed clearly behind the Metal Gear Solid sequel in 2009, and there was no clear reason why either of them would have had any drastic popularity changes in the meantime. Once the match started however, it was clear that something with Shadow of the Colossus had changed. MGS2 would hold a narrow lead for the first several minutes, but even five minutes in, that narrow lead had already collapsed, and SOTC held a 6 vote lead at the freeze. Shocked, we all waited to see what directions things would move in as the match got fully underway. And we kept waiting. And waiting, and waiting, and waiting. The two games would end up locked in a 50/50 standstill for the entire twelve hours of the poll, in what would end up becoming the closest wire to wire match in contest history. The lead peaked at 188, a record that still stands to this day. At any moment any game could make a move to come back or pull away, but neither one was quite able to do so with any regularity; if SOTC would take an hour building up a lead, MGS 2 would spend the next hour fighting back and tearing the lead down, something it was in the middle of doing during the final hour of the match. With 30 minutes left to go in the match, MGS 2 had managed to get the lead again for the first time in 6 hours, but it would only be able to hold on to it on and off for 25 minutes. SOTC would make a big push in the penultimate update, giving itself a narrow lead which it would hold on to as the match ended. SOTC, despite the odds, had emerged as the victor.

And then the very next round it did it again. MGS4 entered the match as the favorite, and led for the first five minutes, but then SOTC immediately struck back, surged into the lead and unlike in its match against MGS2, held the lead for the rest of the match. It became clear that not only had the Game of the Decade framing somehow increased SOTCs popularity, it was gaining in strength as the contest went on and it kept pulling off upset after upset. It had become the Metal Gear Solid Killer, and now there was only one game in the series left. The #1 Seed in the division: Metal Gear Solid 3.

Unlike the previous two matches, we did not underestimate SOTC this time. We knew that SOTC had a real shot at pulling off the hat trick, and defeating MGS3 to win the division, but there were stil doubts if it could as the match had one other thing unlike the other two: it would be a Night Match, which considering the MGS series past vote trends, worked in Snake Eaters favor. The match started, and this time, buoyed by a bandwagon of support, SOTC was the game with the lead. MGS3 would start coming back almost immediately though, quickly taking the lead, and unlike its fellow MGS brethren, it would be in control of the match almost the entire time. SOTC would start stalling things out and dragging MGS3s numbers down once the Day Vote kicked in, but as this was only a 12 hour match it was too little too late. Metal Gear Solid had gotten its revenge, and with this result MGS3 had fully come into its own as the strongest of the sequels. By pulling off a victory that MGS2 and 4 couldnt, MGS3 managed to prove itself almost more so than if it had beaten the other games directly. Its not always the case that both Winner and Loser are able to walk away from a match with their heads held high, but thats what happened here. Both SOTC and MGS3 had shown over the course of 2010 that they were a force to be reckoned with.

That MGS3/SotC match pic is one of my all-time favorites

That picture took me like five minutes to do, completely on a whim, and at that point, MGS4 vs. SotC hadn't yet occurred, and I spent much more time on a MGS3 vs. MGS4 pic that of course, never got used.

In fairness SOTC more or less validated its GOTD strength in the 2015 contest, and one could argue that reduced votals in 2010 compared to the previous year could only help it.

Yesmar_ posted...

Round 1 started as normal for all three games as they all dispatched their opponents with ease, and Round 2 looked to be more of the same. MGS4 had a bit more trouble with Diablo II, but it still managed to safely beat the Blizzard title, no slouch in its own right.

That's weird to read nowadays. I bet Diablo II wins that easily if you rerun it now.

Dunno about easily, since based on 2015 MGS4 would probably still win that handily (approximately equal scores against Kingdom Hearts II and Goldeneye, and it's pretty obvious who wins THAT) and Blizzard's reputation has been tarnished since then.

MGS3 my beloved

MGS3 might be the clear strongest now, but dammit MGS2 still had a shot at looking the best if 3 could have just lost a Day match.

The SotC Cinderella run was my favorite parts of that contest. And I say this as someone who has no stake or interest whatsoever in Shadow of the Colossus. Just a really fun run to watch unfold, with this unlikely cult classic beating up on one of the biggest franchises of all-time.

Speaking of GOTD, am I the only one who doesn't think RE4 actually declined much if at all by 2015? It actually outperformed GOTD x-stat expectations against Paper Mario and Metal Gear Solid 2 fwiw.

azuarc posted...

Just a really fun run to watch unfold, with this unlikely cult classic beating up on one of the biggest franchises of all-time.

Should have finished the job if it was gonna start tbhhh

SotC beat the games it deserved to beat imhotbqh

74. Solid Snake vs. Mega Man (Fall 2006) R4

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3493b711.jpg

Solid Snake 55.33% 70163
Mega Man 44.67% 56648
TOTAL VOTES 126811
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/(1)Solid_Snake_vs_(2)Mega_Man_2006
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/2557-tournament-quarterfinal-solid-snake-vs-mega-man

For years the contest order was dominated not just by the Noble Nine, but by a specific ordering within the Noble Nine. Link, Cloud, and Sephiroth were at the top, Mario, Samus, Mega Man, and Crono were in the middle, and then bringing up the rear was, consistently, Sonic and Snake. Despite being members of the Noble Nine, the two of them had never in fact beaten any of the other members, and some people even questioned whether or not the two of them should be included at all. In 2005, some cracks in this ordering began to show, as I mentioned in the writeup for the Sonic/MM match of that year. But in 2006, those cracks would burst wide open, and the first major reordering of the Noble Nine would occur. A reordering, which commenced with this match.

Snake and Mega Man had a history. They had faced off in the Elite Eight twice before: once in 2003 and then again the following year in 2004. Despite some speculation to the contrary, Snake would lose that initial matchup, albeit still putting up a respectable 46.5%. 2004 however, was much more disappointing, as Snake failed to even break 45% on the Blue Bomber. Snake would finally make the Final 4 in 2005, but he would do it on the back of a bracket with its top competitors removed, and going into 2006 he was still considered to be on the lower end of the Noble Nine chain.

Something was different in 2006 though. Mega Man, once a paragon of consistency was struggling. He was underperforming by 4% or so every round, even failing to break 55% on (an admittedly impressive) Sora in Round 3. Snake hadnt set the board on fire with any of his comparable performance, but they were considered solid enough, and despite their previous history, we knew going into the quarterfinals that Snake had a very real chance at upsetting Mega Man this year. Despite Mega Man being the pre-contest favorite, by the time their rematch rolled around, the board was split and we were preparing for a barnburner, instead of the easy victories of previous years.

And it turned out in the end, that an easy victory was what we would get. But, this time, the easy victory would be for Solid Snake. Surprising everyone, Snake won with ease over the character that had given him so much trouble just two years before. Clearly, this was not just a case of Mega Man falling off a bit; Solid Snake had surged ahead in popularity as well. Not only could Snake beat this Mega Man, he probably could have beaten the version that had previously defeated him as well. So what happened? It quickly became clear that Snake had gotten a noticeable boost due to his appearance in the Brawl teaser at E3 that year, and we had gotten our first taste of BrawlFEAR. And the crazy part of all this is that despite being a Brawl crazy board ourselves, we didnt see this coming. The trailers and hype for Brawl was at as much of a fever pitch on Board 8 as anywhere else, but the fact that this could help Snake in any major way was not just dismissed, it wasnt even discussed. It truly was a factor very few people saw coming. But come it did, and it would help lead to an upturn in order of the Noble Nine, and a permanent shuffling of what we thought we knew about their strengths.

2006 Snake was a magical run

That result probably holds now tbh.

73. Banjo-Kazooie vs. Perfect Dark vs. Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow vs. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2009) R1

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/e12986fd.jpg

Banjo-Kazooie 8.75% 10563
Perfect Dark 11.71% 14141
Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow 50.68% 61189
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 28.68% 34837
TOTAL VOTES 120730
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Banjo-Kazooie_vs_Perfect_Dark_vs_Pok%C3%A9mon_Red/Blue/Yellow_vs_The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Majora%27s_Mask_2009
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3462-division-5-round-1-banjo-kazooie-perfect-dark-pokemon-zelda

There are contest debuts, and then there are contest debuts, and youd be hard pressed to find more than one or two that top the impression left by Pokemon R/B/Y in this Round 1 match from 2009. Pokemons previous contest history had been pretty up and down by this point to say the least. It hadnt done well the first couple of years, but going into 2009, things were on the upswing. Pikachu and Mewtwo had both had impressive runs in 08, even if there were outside factors influencing their success, and they were both considered strong midcarders. But that was just it. They were upper midcarders at best. Better than Pokemon had ever been, certainly, but not at the level of the Near Elites. Despite what some people might have grumbled, Pokemon was no threat to start taking over.

Even so, we were all eager to see R/B/Y in action. It won the Nomination Rally Tournament I believe, and was thus the beneficiary of a large share of board nominations, which might have helped give it a high seedif the contest wasnt once again divided by era. Pokemon was thus thrown into a four way match with 3 N64 games, including the one that was considered to be its main competition: Majoras Mask, another contest newcomer. After the past two contests, we were no longer down on Pokemon, but there were still limits to how strong we thought R/B/Y could be, and Majoras Mask was seen as that limit. despite the game being somewhat of a cipher itself. By and large the board sided with MM when it came to the battle for first, and while there was certainly a contingent that went with Pokemon, it was a minority one, and most of the predicted Pokemon victories were narrow ones.

Once the match started it became immediately clear that the range of popularity that we had expected R/B/Y to fall in was vastly vastly underestimated. Pokemon didnt just pull off an upset and win, it did so with the most dominant numbers wed ever seen in such a situaton. Has an underdog ever won a match by more? It wasnt even enough for Pokemon to beat Majoras Mask, it almost *doubled* the Zelda game, en route to a victory which saw Pokemon coming away with 50% of the vote, an extremely difficult feat to pull off in a four way match. What we were seeing was not the performance of a merely strong game. What we were seeing was the performance of one of the top games on the site. Top 10? Top 5? Anything was possible after this.

And then the next day, G/S/C turned around put in another stunning performance itself, advancing to the second round in ease, and completely erasing its embarrassment from five year prior. PokeFEAR had officially been born, and Pikachu and Mewtwos 08 performances would look like minor league ones compared to the way Pokemon would run roughshod over the next several contests, pulling off upset after upset, and becoming one of the most dominant forces on the site. Ironically, the game that started all this would never really get the opportunity to take advantage of its strength. R/B/Y would get bogged down in SFF in 09, and then get stuck behind the Undertale whirlwind in 15. It was clear though, after all the dust had settled in 09, that Pokemon R/B/Y was potentially the #3 game on the site, and in the end, the one match, possibly the only match, where it got to demonstrate that would be this first one.

Yeah, that match is easily on my top five most stunning performances list. Also, check out the Oracle predictions. One person predicted RBY to get over 40%. One.

https://oraclechallenge.com/archives.php?contest=SpC2k9&type=match&match=17

Yesmar_ posted...

Pokemon R/B/Y was potentially the #3 game on the site, and in the end, the one match, possibly the only match, where it got to demonstrate that would be this first one.

Think it demonstrated it plenty in the next few rounds as well. It was the favorite to get last against between it, MGS and FFVIII with Ocarina in the poll going into the match. Round 2 was also crazy despite it being less surprising then.

Yesmar_ posted...

73. Banjo-Kazooie vs. Perfect Dark vs. Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow vs. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2009) R1

Me, on seeing the length of the match title: Good lord! How many games are there in this poll? At least 6?

Turns out, yes, in fact.

72. Ridley vs. Diablo (Spring 2005) R1

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/a/a91a3f9a.jpg

Ridley 42.35% 31438
Diablo 57.65% 42796
TOTAL VOTES 74234
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/(2)Ridley_vs_(7)Diablo_2005
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/2000-ruin-division-round-1-ridley-vs-diablo

M. Bison vs. Diablo (Spring 2005) R2

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4441a78e.jpg

Ridley 47.12% 39761
Diablo 52.88% 44627
TOTAL VOTES 84388
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/(6)M._Bison_vs_(7)Diablo_2005
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/2010-ruin-division-round-2-m-bison-vs-diablo

Kefka vs. Diablo (Spring 2005) R3

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/04b3a598.jpg

Kefka 45.91% 38660
Diablo 54.09% 45547
TOTAL VOTES 84207
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/(1)Kefka_vs_(7)Diablo_2005
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/2015-ruin-division-final-kefka-vs-diablo

And so the Villains Contest finally shows up on my list. One might take this high debut as a sign of the contests quality, but unfortunately for any villain fans, its the opposite. There was just not much exciting that happened during it, but the exciting stuff that did happen, hoo boy, there were some entertaining results. First up being this string of matches, an all-timer Cinderella run that produced some much needed excitement and anticipation throughout the 31 days of this contest.

When it came to the bracket, there were three obvious members of the Final Four: Bowser, Ganondorf, and Sephiroth were all likely locks to win their division. The final Divisional winner though, that was up in the air. As the 1 seed for the Ruin Division, Kefka was the presumptive favorite to take it, but his previous contest performances had left quite a bit to be desired, so the knives were out in terms of finding someone else to take it instead. Despite our misgivings though, the pre-contest consensus coalesced around Kefka. As weak as he might have been, his competition in the division was seen as even worse. Ocelot, Liquid, Robotnik, all people that might have stood a chance had been shunted off elsewhere. It looked like, in the end, it would be Kefka after all. There was just other contender: Ridley. Ridley had been someone who had been hyped up for a potential appearance in a regular character contest, not just villains, and while he might have been an unknown quality, he was considered the one other character in the division who had a shot at stopping Kefka from making the Final Four.

Ridleys first round opponent had other plans though. Despite being a 7 seed, Diablo was not someone we entirely underestimated. While Ridley vs. Kefka might have been the most debated match in the division, Ridley Vs. Diablo was probably the second most. It all came down to where Ridleys popularity fell. . .or so we thought. When the match started Diablo got to work immediately and showed that this was not Ridleys match to lose, it was Diablos to win. And Diablo didnt just win, he won by over 10%, upending all of our expectations, and immediately making himself a new contender. In the world of villains, this was Final Four material. For the second spring contest in a row, we had underestimated a low seeded Blizzard entrant, and we would have to wait and see if once again that Blizzard entrant would wreak havoc on our brackets.

In the second round, Diablo did it again, albeit with more trouble against an equally low seeded M. Bison. Despite some stumbles early on, Diablo would pick up steam as the day went on, winning a narrower, but still safe victory. And then in the next round, Diablo would come face to face with Kefka himself. . .and he would win with little trouble yet again. Kefka lead for the first several hours of the poll, but Diablo took off with the Day Vote, and in no time at all won his place in the Final Four. Most upsets are a one round affair, but Diablo beat the odds round after round after round, bowing out in the Semifinals after a run very few saw coming, but which everyone would remember.

For anyone paying attention, this was the second contest with an entrant from Blizzard, and it was the second contest where said entrant exceeded all expectations and made a deep run. GameFAQS is known as a Japanese favoring, console heavy website, so when entrants like Starcraft and Diablo do so well it stands out like a sore thumb. For whatever the reason, Blizzard was an exception to our rules, and this run, coming on the heels of Starcrafts, led many to believe that there was some special sauce with them, and that you should only underestimate Blizzard at your own peril. This bit of advice would prove fruitful more often than not, but when it was proved not, oh boy. But those disappointments were still to come, and in the moment Blizzard had pulled it off yet again, ensuring their spot in contest lore.

Kefka and Ridley would definitely both destroy Diablo today.

It's a shame Bison never showed up in a proper contest considering he came the closest to beating Diablo.

On the topic of Bison never making it into a proper contest, tbf Street Fighter characters do seem to struggle with seeding.

Honestly haven't thought about that in 20 years, don't worry about it

LinkMarioSamus posted...

Kefka and Ridley would definitely both destroy Diablo today.

After Diablo 4, I have to imagine there aren't many people who would be on the Diablo hype train, so that isn't really saying much. (Also, something something Diablo 3 RMT AH, even though Diablo 3 pulled up out of its initial debacles by the time the expansion rolled around.)

71. Mega Man vs. Pikachu (2018) LB

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/705522ef.png

Mega Man 49.89% 14396
Pikachu 50.11% 14458
TOTAL VOTES 28854
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/(8)Mega_Man_vs_(7)Pikachu_(Legends_Bracket)_2018
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7359-finals-bracket-round-1-mega-man-vs-pikachu

Solid Snake vs. Zelda (2018) LB

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/83dc7d4a.png

Solid Snake 49.68% 14350
Zelda 50.32% 14535
TOTAL VOTES 28854
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/(3)Solid_Snake_vs_(4)Zelda_(Legends_Bracket)_2018
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7362-finals-bracket-round-1-snake-vs-zelda

Tifa Lockheart vs. Sephiroth (2018) LB

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/ef2489f2.png

Tifa Lockheart 52.33% 13545
Sephiroth 47.67% 12340
TOTAL VOTES 25885
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/(3)Tifa_Lockheart_vs_(1)Sephiroth_(Losers_Bracket)_2018
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7369-loser-bracket-round-1-tifa-vs-sephiroth

What counts as breaking the Noble Nine? In the early years, it was easy. One character would face off against another character in a 24 hour match, one would win, and the other would be eliminated. And if the character that was eliminated was a Noble Niner and the character that won was not, then the Noble Nine would be broken. And then in 2007 we had 4 ways. Even before the contest started, even before we had given LFF a name, we knew that the format would be screwy, and the Wise Men of the Contests determined that losing in a 4 way wouldnt count, and so the handful of Noble Nine losses we saw the next two contests didnt count. After that, we had 12 hour matches, but they were 1v1 again, so we determined that this time a Noble Niner losing would count. And then, in a match Ill get to later, the Noble Nine did break. But should it have counted? It seemed pretty clear after the fact, when the contest was over, that 12 hour matches werent really equivalent to 24 hour ones; the reduced time frame could alter results. Unlike in 2007, our pre-contest hunch was wrong. However, we had already made the determination before the contest started, and so I think people were hesitant to relitigate things. No one wanted to be accused of moving the goalposts, or of changing their mind just because they didnt want the Noble Nine to break/didnt like how it happened. That being said, I dont think the match in question in 2010 should have really counted as breaking the Noble Nine.

2018 though, was a little bit different. For the first time since 2006, we would have a character battle with 1v1, 24 hour matches the entire time. Sure, there were multiple matches going on at once, but unless there is a rally going on in one of the other matches, that format change doesnt show much evidence of skewing results. And the Noble Nine, minus Sephiroth would receive byes to the Legends Bracket, where they would face off against the 8 Divisional Winners of the regular bracket in a double elimination mini-bracket. Would losing to a non-Noble Nine member this way count as breaking things? Well, we would find out on the very first day of the Legends Bracket, as Mega Man found himself in a tense battle with Pikachu. Mega Man would get out to an early lead, but he would struggle to build up a particularly large one, managing to pad his lead bit by bit in the early evening, but never close to running away with things. And then, overnight, the lead completely slipped away from him, Pikachu emerging as the leader during the early morning hours. The balance of power would shift again during the day however, and Mega Man would take control for one final push, taking back the lead and building up a 150 vote lead of his own. The ASV, or what was left of it, would prove to be Mega Mans downfall however, as the vote trends would shift one final time, just hours before the polls end, giving Pikachu just enough momentum to roll into the lead one last time and hold on for dear life for the last hour and half of the poll. When the dust cleared, Pikachu had done it, and for only the second (or first?) time in a 1v1 match, the Noble Nine had been broken.

Or had it? The Legends Bracket was, as I previously said, double elimination, and so, while Pikachu had finished ahead of Mega Man, he had not actually eliminated him. With the way the bracket seemed likely to shake out, Mega Man and Pikachu would face off again in the actual elimination match, and if Mega Man could win this one, then it could be argued, the Noble Nine hadnt really broken after all. And win that match Mega Man did. Once again the match was close, but this time Mega Man would stay in control the whole time, eliminating Pikachu and keeping the Noble Nine alive for one day more. And then, two days after Pikachu beat Mega Man, Zelda went on a miracle run of her own through the Legends Bracket. She would beat Snake, Sonic, and Mario, and while none of them would end up beating her in a rematch like Mega Man did with Pikachu, she wouldnt actually eliminate any of them. Once again, there was an out.

And then finally, we came to Tifa/Sephiroth, a match whose loser would be eliminated, and which on paper should have been an easy win for Sephiroth. He had beaten Tifa easily on two previous occasions, and even if Seph had fallen down to Tifas tier in the meantime, the order of precedence for FFVII had up to this point seemed clear. But now, 20 years on, it wasnt. Tifa got off to the match with a strong start, putting up numbers over 55% even after the freeze. Seph would bring the percentage down quite a bit throughout the entire match, but it wouldnt be enough. Tifa had reversed everything we thought we knew about FFVII, eliminated Seph from the tournament, and broken the Noble Nine at the same time. This wasnt a multi-way match, or a 12 hour one, or a non-elimination match. We had run out of excuses, and while Im sure theres still something you could use to say this doesnt count (it was double elimination and the first elimination was to a Noble Niner), its hard to argue against the legacy of this match, and against the fact that it is as definitive a Noble Nine break as we can ever hope to see.

I'm not sure which was more shocking between Zelda beating Snake and Tifa beating Sephiroth, but they were the stars of this contest, for sure.

Zelda beating Snake was shocking in a lot of ways, but we also knew by the time we got to the later rounds that Zelda was going to be an existential threat to the elites of the contest.

Tifa beating Sephiroth was the moment that had me rethinking even the basics of contests. There's plenty of cases where a character becomes much more popular after a new release. But Tifa over Seph was different because it just flew in the face of everything we knew about contests. Seph had wrecked Tifa in two prior matches, and it's not like there was a new FFVII release that could explain it like we could Zelda's ascent.

It was so crazy that I remember suggesting that if everything we knew about stuff like SFF and hierarchies had shifted, maybe Samus might possibly threaten Mario in a few days...

Tifa did seem to be gaining on Sephiroth, not to mention she had never really done poorly against him. I also get the feeling Sephiroth is still actually stronger, unless you suggest that Luigi would get like 63% against Ryu.

What made people question Mega Man and Pikachu was not the losers bracket but that Pikachu needed the registered user bonus to pull it off, that was the out. Zelda did not ned it. Zelda having sent multiple NNers to the losers bracket to eliminate each other somehow not counting I don't recall at all.

Tifa vs. Sephiroth wasn't really a shock because of the NN break either, I don't think that had too much focus at the point, it was just a completely unexpected result.

I wonder if Smash gives Sephiroth a little edge back.

But Remake/Rebirth is probably even better for Tifa.

Only one of those three listed above was in the loser's bracket, right? So why do they all say LB?

Tbf Legends Bracket has the same acronym.

pjbasis posted...

I wonder if Smash gives Sephiroth a little edge back.

But Remake/Rebirth is probably even better for Tifa.

But that's not relevant in that case, fantase decides it. I picked Tifa there because I just couldn't imagine today's fanbade picking the edgy villain over the cool heroine. I don't think Smash nor Rebirth would change that.

It took us a very long time to get a proper rSFF match, but Tifa/Seph finally proved the theory.

was it rSFF though

Mario/Samus 2018 feels more like rSFF to me than Tifa/Sephiroth

I had brought up the idea of Tifa beating Sephiroth prior to the 2018 contest, but those comments got laughed off, pretty much... I mean, Sephiroth stunk in the the 2013 contest.

But Sephiroths results in 2013 was still what you would expect. No one blamed him for losing to boosted Draven and Mewtwo.

I don't think Mario vs. Samus was the rSFF match(es)

azuarc posted...

Only one of those three listed above was in the loser's bracket, right? So why do they all say LB?

Legends Bracket

Haste_2 posted...

I had brought up the idea of Tifa beating Sephiroth prior to the 2018 contest, but those comments got laughed off, pretty much... I mean, Sephiroth stunk in the the 2013 contest.

I guess he looked lacklustre in the early rounds. He did at least win his division, but its not like Kirby did so well in 2018 anyways.

Tifa did better on Samus than Seph did on Mario, which would suggest Tifa/Seph was a legit result if Mario/Samus was indeed a 50/50 match with no SFF or rSFF.

On another note, does Sephiroth even still beat Bowser?

Leonhart4 posted...

Tifa did better on Samus than Seph did on Mario, which would suggest Tifa/Seph was a legit result if Mario/Samus was indeed a 50/50 match with no SFF or rSFF.

Yeah I know and I think we have discussed this before. I am much more open to think Samus overperformed a bit on Mario and Tifa after the shocker overperformed a bit on Samus. I think Sephs division looks too weak otherwise.