Noble Nine



The Noble Nine are an elite force consisting of nine of the most popular video game characters EVER. They always perform well in the GameFAQs character contests. The most notable fact about this elite group is that NO member of the Noble Nine has ever been defeated in a 1v1 environment... except by another member of the Noble Nine. Over the course of six tournaments, this has still held true; they have extended their streak to 124-0 against outside competition. The Noble Nine officially broke in the Winter 2010, when Crono lost to Missingno in the first round.


 * Link
 * Cloud Strife
 * Sephiroth
 * Mario
 * Samus Aran
 * Sonic
 * Crono
 * Mega Man
 * Solid Snake

When will the NN be broken?
The Noble Nine will cease to exist the moment any member is defeated by an outside opponent in a 1v1 environment. They will not become the Elite Eight. Once the streak is broken, it's dead for life. Why? Because their Contest Histories create a domino effect that, once set in motion, cannot be stopped. Using Crono as an example...


 * Crono is beaten by a non-NNer!
 * Crono needs to be removed from the NN
 * but Crono has defeated Mega Man in the past!
 * Mega Man needs to be removed from the NN
 * but Mega Man has defeated Sonic in the past!
 * Sonic needs to be removed from the NN
 * but Sonic has also defeated Crono  in the past!
 * Crono needs to be removed from the NN
 * but Crono has also defeated Mario in the past!
 * Mario needs to be removed from the NN
 * but Mario has defeated Samus in the past!
 * Samus needs to be removed from the NN
 * but Samus has defeated Snake in the past!
 * Snake needs to be removed from the NN
 * but Mario has also defeated Cloud in the past!
 * Cloud need to be removed from the NN
 * but Cloud has defeated Link in the past!
 * Link needs to be removed from the NN
 * but Link has defeated Sephiroth in the past!
 * Sephiroth needs to be removed from the NN

The same chain is created no matter which member of the NN falls first; the end result is always that the Noble Nine becomes the Noble Zero. For another example, look at the following chain of what has occurred in battles:


 * Link has beaten Sephiroth
 * Sephiroth has beaten Samus
 * Samus has beaten Snake
 * Snake has beaten Mega Man
 * Mega Man has beaten Sonic
 * Sonic has beaten Crono
 * Crono has beaten Mario
 * Mario has beaten Cloud
 * Cloud has beaten Link

In other words, Link &gt; Sephiroth &gt; Samus &gt; Snake &gt; Mega Man &gt; Sonic &gt; Crono &gt; Mario &gt; Cloud &gt; Link. Anyone falling breaks the chain.

Why can't we just remove Crono and make it the Elite Eight?
...

Once again, if Crono is no longer an NNer, then he becomes part of the "outside competition." But, he beat Mega Man in 2005, he beat Snake in 2002 and he beat Mario in 2004. Now neither of those three are undefeated against outside competition either. But, they beat... and so forth, creating the chain of destruction seen above.

Why can't we add Character X and make it the Terrific Ten?
You certainly could, but doing so would create a new term, and thus the "Noble Nine" as we currently know it would be broken regardless.

Close Calls for the NN
Though the NN has yet to be beaten, there have been several close calls over the years. The matches where an outside opponent has brought a member of the NN to below 55% are as follows:


 * Sonic over Zero, 52.34% in 2003
 * Sonic over Aeris, 53.02% in 2003
 * Snake over Frog, 51.39% in 2004
 * Snake over Bowser, 50.59% in 2005 (1,196 vote margin)
 * Snake over Zelda, 54.41% in 2005
 * Samus over Tifa, 50.49% in 2006 (1,418 vote margin)
 * Sonic over Vincent, 52.09% in 2006
 * Mega Man over Sora, 54.28% in 2006
 * Crono over Auron, 54.50% in 2006

Noble Nine Controversy - 1v1 Only?
There is debate as to whether Vincent's finishing in 2nd place (ahead of Crono and behind Link) in Round Three of the 2007 Character Battle should qualify as a "breaking" of the Noble Nine, and whether or not this result has created a "Terrific Ten" as an alternative to the NN. To discuss the matter further, please make use of the NN discussion page. For the purposes of this article it will be assumed that the Noble Nine's streak can only be jeopardized in a standard 1v1 tournament, as that is the environment where the concept was born and where the streak has always taken place.

NN upsets in 4-ways
The Noble Nine has been "broken" in the 4-way format, but because of the complexity of 4-ways, the Noble Nine is still considered to exist. The following is a list of 4-way breaks.


 * L-Block defeated Link, Cloud, Solid Snake, and Sonic during the later stages of the 2007 Character Battle.
 * Vincent had an epic brawl with Crono in 2007, and the former eventually won (though Crono got his revenge in 2008).
 * Auron defeated Sonic in the 2008 Character Battle. Even though Sonic advanced, he was later stopped by Kirby for no adequately explained reason.
 * In a meaningless 3rd place finish, Kirby swallowed up Sephiroth in the 2008 semifinals.
 * Due to a generous serving of LFF cake at the hands of Zero, Mega Man choked on Weighted Companion Cube during a division final in 2008.

Noble Nine Characters Which Have Never Faced Each Other
This list does not include the 2006 Battle Royal, 2007, or 2008 Contests since they were not one-on-one.


 * Link: Sonic, Snake (Link v Sonic has been set up for 2010)
 * Cloud: Crono, Snake, Mega Man
 * Sephiroth: Sonic, Snake, Crono (Seph v Crono and Snake has been set up for 2010)
 * Mario: Sonic, Mega Man (Mario v Mega Man has been set up for 2010)
 * Samus: Crono, Mega Man
 * Snake: Link, Cloud, Sephiroth (Snake v Seph has been set up for 2010)
 * Crono: Samus, Cloud, Sephiroth (Crono v Seph has been set up for 2010)
 * Mega Man: Mario, Cloud, Samus (Mega Man v Mario has been set up for 2010)
 * Sonic: Sephiroth, Link, Mario (Sonic v Link has been set up for 2010)

Represented by Company

 * Nintendo and Square created 3 of the Noble Nine each. Together, they represent 67% of the Noble Nine.
 * SEGA, Konami, and Capcom each hold 1 of the Noble Nine. They represent 33% of the Noble Nine.

Random Facts

 * 5 of the Noble Nine are in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
 * Crono is the only Noble Nine member to never appear in a fighting game. All of the others have at least two fighting game appearances. (Aside from Smash, there's the Marvel vs. Capcom games for Megaman, Sonic Championship and Battle, DreamMix TV for Snake, and Ehrgeiz and Dissidia for the FF7 representatives.)
 * 4 of the Noble Nine wield a sword.
 * 3 of the Noble Nine fight with guns.
 * 3 of the Noble Nine are from Nintendo
 * 3 of the Noble Nine are from Square
 * 2 of the Noble Nine traditionally defeat enemies by jumping on them, though a third has done so in the past... *wink wink Sephiroth wink wink* (Actually Link did stomp on goombas in Links Awakening too)
 * 2 of the Noble Nine wear bandanas in their usual outfits.
 * Mario and Samus are the only ones who have yet to lose to outside competition in 4-ways.
 * Mario is the only character who does not wield a sword that was represented in the 2005 Tournament of Champions.
 * Crono is the only sword-wielder who was not represented in the 2005 Tournament of Champions.
 * Samus is the only female member of the Noble Nine.
 * Out of the 147 non-Noble Nine characters that have appeared since Summer 2005 Contest, only 69 of them have ever faced a member of the Noble Nine.
 * Sonic is the only furry member of the Noble Nine.
 * Sephiroth is the only villain of the Noble Nine, and also the only Noble Nine character that has never been in a game for a Nintendo console.
 * Mega Man is the only robot and character from Capcom.
 * Solid Snake is the only Konami character and the only Noble Nine character to have been in a video game with an ESRB rating higher than "Teen" (unless you count Mario's cameo appearance in The Twin Snakes, which was rated "Mature").
 * Cloud and Sephiroth are the only two to have originally appeared in the exact same game.