(3)Vivi vs (10)Donkey Kong 2018

Ulti's Analysis
This is one of our coolest contest rivalries ever. I forget who made this point at first, but the history between these two is legitimately amazing. These aren't noble nine characters like Link and Cloud who always just outlast and see each other. This isn't a forced rivalry like Snake vs Knuckles or Sora vs Squall. This is just two characters linked together. That's it.

In 2004, Vivi made his debut in a very debated 7 vs 10 match against Donkey Kong. A lot of us, myself included, thought DK could win. Remember, he wasn't yet known as a choke artist. Vivi got 56.47%: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1740-midgar-division-round-1-vivi-vs-donkey-kong

Six years later in 2010, these two got matched up in yet another 7 vs 10 match in round one. It was an exact repeat. Remember? https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3744-chaos-division-round-1-vivi-vs-donkey-kong

Vivi got 56.29% in the second match, a whopping .18% deviation. I use this terminology because I remember making a joke back then that I'm looking forward to the trilogy concluding in 2016: https://board8.wikia.com/wiki/(7)Vivi_vs_(10)Donkey_Kong_2010

Turns out my joke prediction was two years off, and these two weren't supposed to see each other this year anyway. Donkey Kong was a 10 seed for the duel yet again, but this time Vivi was a 3. They both had to win twice to get here, which was ok on Vivi's end but DK had to rely on Leon Kennedy shitting the bed in epic fashion to get here. I was hoping DK could make a match out of it this time around, but... nope. We had the literal exact same match for a third time. DK gets the board vote, Vivi wins easily, and I get miffed by the low prediction percentage. Come on, casuals. Your other 7 choices on this half of the division were Yu Narukami, Victor Sullivan, Aya Brea, Tidus, Donkey Kong, Leon Kennedy, and Dragonborn. Who the hell was Vivi losing to on that list?

For the actual match, Vivi "only" won with 54.98%. So in 14 years, DK has knocked 1.5% off of there, meaning DK is on pace to win this match in 2069. Seriously. It was nice to see DK do better and prove his run wasn't a fluke, but these small shifts in percentage against the same character prove we're overstating the narrative about DK being legit. In reality, Tidus and Leon Kennedy took massive steps backwards and DK just held steady. Just like Jak's DK did against my Simon Belmont when Nintendo's garbage-ass online functionality gets in the way. Seriously Nintendo, biggest game in over a decade and you still fail at online. Garbage. Buy some servers or fuck off already.

Anyway. It was nice seeing these two get a third match that wasn't a blatant setup. I wish DK would have done better, but hey, Vivi is the dude's kryptonite. This was DK's first trip to round 3 since 2002, so of course Vivi was in the way. That's just how it is.