(3)Solid Snake vs (2)Samus Aran (Losers Bracket) 2018

Ulti's Analysis
Most people didn't realize this when Draven was busy balling all over the contest back in 2013, but Samus was the third wheel in the final. Remember? https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/5266-character-battle-ix-final-draven-vs-solid-snake-vs-samus

Snake was openly rallied during that one, including David Hayter himself tweeting out support. None of it mattered and Snake got rolled. If Link was in there instead of Draven, Snake may very well have won that contest (do not fall for Board 8's revisionist history; they all wanted Link to lose, and then complained when he lost because someone who wasn't 'supposed' to beat Link is who beat Link, which is just dumb). Well Samus got doubly rolled on, which was an odd sort of revenge for Snake given he lost to her in the final back in 2006: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/2561-tournament-final-samus-aran-vs-solid-snake

For what it's worth Snake also finished ahead of Samus in this poll, but it's barely counted in writeups like this for obvious reasons: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/2562-battle-royale-day-1

However you want to slice it, this match was a chance for Samus to return to form and layeth the smacketh down. I've said for a very long time that Snake's support collapses against Nintendo 1 on 1, because Nintendo is where his boost came from. Even this year, his two wins were against Sonic and Auron and he looked like a godkiller in the process. Put him against Zelda or Samus, and he completely folds. Put him against Mario or Link, and the same exact thing will happen. It's also exactly what happened here. This barely qualified as a contest match. It was Samus flexing some muscles for a little while and then waving on her way out like a boss.

https://i.makeagif.com/media/9-13-2014/tEDX35.gif

One of the most badass scenes ever. "Thanks, but I'm just doing my job. On to the next one like Jay-Z. Later."

It would set up one of the best matches you'll ever see for Samus, and for Snake it was a rough way to go out, but he should have cashed in when he had the chance. He was in or near the contest final for almost a solid decade without ever winning one. I wouldn't call him the Buffalo Bills or anything because unlike them, Snake was actually competitive. He's more like the Vikings. They've been off and on as contenders since 1970, but they've never won anything and their losses are always brutal. That's pretty much an accurate description of Snake. He's trending down even with getting back into Smash, too. I covered why this makes me pretty sad in the Zelda v Snake writeup, so I won't rehash it here. It would have been great to see him win one.