(3)Super Smash Bros. Melee vs (2)Final Fantasy VII 2015

Ulti's Analysis
So, who remembers this poll? http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/1662-tournament-semifinal-final-fantasy-vii-vs-super-smash-bros

I sure did, and when I made my bracket, I really wanted to pick Melee to pull this upset. But I just could not look past that poll. 62-38 is crazy to turn around, even if the rematch did happen 11 years later. Even if you rely on the 2009 stats (and FF7 was a monster that year), FF7 was expected to get 59.77%, which is very close to the 2004 result. My heart said Melee. My mind said Melee. But my logical center, that stupid part of my brain that seems to override everything else, could not ignore FF7's past numbers. I regretted the pick almost immediately after lockdown. I love FF7 to death, and I knew it was going to lose before the final. But I picked Mario 64 to do it instead of Melee, which I will regret forever. I knew Melee was going to do it, too, I just couldn't pull the trigger :'(

This match overlapped with Undertale/Mario 64, because Allen decided mid-contest to make this round two matches per day when it was originally supposed to be one. It ended up working out, but in the future I don't think a contest format should be changed halfway through. A lot of people pick things based on the format. Imagine if during the 12 hour night/day stuff, Allen decided to just swap out night matches for day matches.

Thankfully, it made no difference whatsoever in the match winners. Today had the potential to be insane for rallies, but it was kind of a dud on both counts. For this match, Melee won the board vote before FF7 quickly turned it around in the first few minutes. FF7 got a lead of 88 twenty minutes in, but then got thoroughly buried for the rest of the match as Melee revved up the rally engine. Final Fantasy 7, for whatever reason, is an extremely easy game to rally again.

It was never a match after that, as Melee just stomped its way to a 56-44 win. That's an 18% turnaround in 11 years, with Melee not really having a reason to boost. FF7, though, had every reason to boost this contest. There was remake hype, Cloud-in-Smash hype, and even a bit of underdog hype. For three rounds, FF7 looked as strong as it ever has. It wasn't until the match against FF6 where it showed any weakness at all, and then Melee took full advantage to just smash FF7 to bits. It was a very unceremonious exit from this contest for the Final Fantasy series, with SMRPG being the only remaining Square representative after this match.

It can't be overstated how angry people are about the episodic content announcement for the FF7 remake, and I think it's the biggest reason FF7's strength turned on such a dime mid-contest. People hate episodic content, and for good reason. Almost every episodic video game feels unfinished and lazy, and simply doesn't satisfy players very much. The only good one I can think of offhand is Half-Life 2, though I'm hoping people can provide more good examples.

Wikipedia honestly gave really good definition and overview on this subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episodic_video_game

The episodic announcement, paired with Melee being a beast this contest, spelled doom for Final Fantasy 7. I would have loved seeing the FF7 from rounds 1-3 in this match, but unfortunately it was not to be.