(1)Grand Theft Auto V vs (16)Shenmue 2015

Ulti's Analysis
This match was the first of a hilarious eightpack in this contest. It featured two GTA games, Oblivion, SMRPG, World of Warcraft, and Chrono Cross. To me the obvious winner of this eightpack was the winner of Oblivion/SMRPG, but that didn't mean we couldn't have a lot of fun with the other stuff.

Our best chance at getting a 1 seed upset in round 1 of this contest was in this match. The 1 seeds in this contest were Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6, Super Mario Bros. 3, Skyrim, Ocarina of Time, Link to the Past, Grand Theft Auto 5, and Metal Gear Solid. One of those things was clearly not like the others, and the right opponent could have thoroughly embarrassed GTA5. Had Phoenix Wright been in Shenmue's place, it's highly possible GTA5 could have lost this match.

As-is GTA5 was still embarrassed, but it at least got to win a match. Shenmue only sold 1.2 million copies, and I say "only" because the game cost something like 60 million dollars to make and was considered a commercial failure by all accounts. Not that this stopped a group of lunatics to start a complete cult following fanbase for the game, and recently the Shenmue 3 kickstarter raised more than 6 million dollars. How such a bust got all these fans is beyond me, but that's gaming for you.

Meanwhile, GTA5 has sold something like 55 million copies to date, and was by far the fastest-selling entertainment product of any venture (TV, video game, movie, you name it). You can seriously make the argument that GTA5 is the biggest success in the history of entertainment, at least financially, which is just wild to think about when you consider things like Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, the NFL, Casablanca, the Thriller album, or anything else. GTA5 has actually been spoken of on those kinds of lists for financial success. Even Forbes has talked about it.

So naturally, GameFAQs despises the GTA series and loves Shenmue. Shenmue actually had GTA5 under 60% for a time, before GTA5 ultimately recovered to get 62% in the final poll. It was an easy win, but hardly becoming of a 1 seed and was surefire proof of impending doom in round 2. It was also one of the best 38% losses you'll ever see in a contest, because GTA5 got thoroughly exposed here. Not that any of us thought GTA5 would be worth anything anyway, but to do this badly against such fodder is really something else.

It's worth noting that before this match, Shenmue the game had never broken 30% on anything and Ryo Hazuki's lone contest win was against Guybrush Threepwood. In 2002. Grand Theft Auto sucks.