1994 vs 2004

Ulti's Analysis
This was our first match where the casuals got burned, because for whatever reason they picked 2004 to win this match. Upon further inspection, it makes a lot of sense. 2004 is the World of Warcraft year, and that game always gets overrated by casuals in these contests. Add in San Andreas, Halo 2, and Metal Gear Solid 3, and you have a year primed to be overrated by casual voters. We even had a few complaint topics during this match, and it was our first match where the winner got below 60 percent. That's how bad this contest was; we were all excited something was closer than 60-40.

Now as you guys know by now, I'm pretty much the anti-casual stereotype of a gamer. I hate trash like Halo, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, and especially World of Warcraft. It's a shame the good games from 2004 had to get dragged down in 2004's muck, but collateral damage is necessary for a sacrifice because screw all that casual trash winning a match. I love you Tales of Symphonia, but no. Ditto for MGS3, Metroid Prime 2, Up Your Arsenal, Jak 3, Katamari Damacy, and Zero Mission. I'll get around to Half-Life 2 one day.

When comparing these two years, 1994 is untouchable. The match picture was a good start, but not close to enough to show everything. Sonic 3 is great, and yes I was one of those kids that couldn't figure out the casino. Fuck that place. Never played a Donkey Kong Country, but one day I'll get around to it.

Mega Man X is frankly self explanatory. It's probably the best game in that entire franchise, and there's something special about MMX's powers versus the original's. He's just way more special, and the easter eggs in that game are so great.

I didn't actually play a Metroid game until after the 2004 contest, and I honestly hated Super Metroid the first time I played it. I couldn't get the hang of wall jumping at all. I did play it through a second time immediately, and that's when I really fell in love with it.

The two big standouts for me in this year are Earthworm Jim and Final Fantasy 6. Earthworm Jim is a pretty self explanatory game; 2D platformer shoot-em-up with tons of humor. It's actually pretty similar to the dry humor of Portal or Ratchet and Clank. FF6 is the highlight of the year for me, and it's also the first Final Fantasy game I actually beat. I met a TON of friends in high school through this game, and it directly led from me being a Sega Genesis sports fan to a more hardcore JRPG type gamer. I think I made the right choice, because casual gaming went to shit not long after I made the switch, while hardcore gaming is as good as it's ever been.