(3)Super Metroid vs (2)The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 2015

Ulti's Analysis
I know Undertale's rallying and Undertale in general was the story of this contest, but to me this match was the best match in round 3. Not only did Super Metroid finally get over the Mario hump by demolishing Galaxy in round 2, it was one ASV away from actually beating a Zelda game. And not just any Zelda game, but our Game of the Decade in Majora's Mask. I'm convinced that Super Metroid could have won this match if people didn't want Game of the Decade validated so hard, but I can understand why Majora's Mask was the rooting interest here. The anti-Brawl sentiment and people just loving Game of the Decade in general outweighed rooting for the cool upset.

But man this upset would have been awesome, and seeing Super Metroid pull this off just to get pasted by Link to the Past again would have been something else. It would have been a third loss to Link to the Past! At some point I really need to mention how this was the best picture for round 3, too. That might be the most badassed picture Samus or Metroid has ever had, and Majora's Mask had without a doubt its best picture ever. Pretty much everything about this match was top notch, from the background of the games leading up to this, to the pictures, and finally the match itself.

At the beginning of the match, Majora's Mask won the board vote, but not by much. This was only a 52-48 style match early, and when Super Metroid started fighting back the second Majora's Mask got a lead of 100, it was on. Super Metroid fought back until Majora stalled and got it to 100 again, but then Metroid went on a rampage to tie it up. The two games then proceeded to be completely even overnight. And by "completely even", I am in no way joking. Super Metroid tied this match at 2:20 am. From that time until the morning vote hit, the lead was never more than 40 votes in either direction and was often far closer than that.

Come the morning vote, most people assumed Super Metroid would just collapse. After all, we've seen Samus and her series in action for 13 years. We know how the series behaves when the day vote hits. But in this match, for some miraculous reason, Super Metroid won the morning vote. Majora made a small push to prevent it, but once Samus got going, she took off for the moon. A tie match at 7:50 am turned into Samus building up a lead rather quickly, and it would ultimately peak at 332 later that morning. It was surreal to watch, and seeing Samus beat Link in ANY capacity was insane. Seeing her doing it with the morning vote was even more nuts. When this was going on, people really thought the match was over and started realizing how silly it was for us to see a third Super Metroid vs Link to the Past match.

But that dastardly Metroid day vote would rear its ugly head eventually, and the dream would quickly die for Super Metroid. Majora's Mask began to slowly fight back by lunch, and after a very prolonged stall where the lead stayed in the 200s, the ASV showed up and would thoroughly favor Majora's Mask. Super Metroid tried to fight back, but Metroid isn't exactly good at doing that during day votes. Majora's Mask would quickly erase the lead and bury Super Metroid, to the tune of winning by 520. People were mostly happy about this, because people really wanted Game of the Decade validated. Brawl had pissed off this board that much, and thank god for that. Fuck Brawl.

It was an anti-climactic finish once things truly got going, but still, it doesn't erase how good this match was. Super Metroid may have lost the ASV and lost the match, but even winning the day vote here was a moral victory. Remember, most people expected this game to get pasted by Galaxy last round. Not only did it thoroughly annihilate a Mario game when everyone expected it to lose, but it was 8 hours and one ASV away from beating a Zelda game. That is mighty impressive given Samus's entire contest history.