Ganondorf's Contest History

Who is Ganondorf?
There are many villains, but there is only one who can call himself the King of Evil. Ganondorf is the main villain throughout the Legend of Zelda series, and of the three characters who wield the power of the Triforce, Ganondorf is in control of the Triforce of Power. Despite Link and Zelda having control of Courage and Wisdom, Ganondorf always seems to find a way to shape a world of darkness as he sees fit, and if not for Link's tiresome duty of ridding the world of Ganon throughout every game in the series, we might still be sailing for 80% of the game. Zelda may not be a full-on RPG, and Ganondorf may be a giant pig in his true form, but Ganondorf is still one of gaming's most constant villains regardless.

"My country lay within a vast desert. When the sun rose into the sky, a burning wind punished my lands, searing the world. And when the moon climbed into the dark of night, a frigid gale pierced our homes. No matter when it came, the wind carried the same thing... death." - Ganondorf

Ganondorf's Contest History
Win-Loss Record: 10-6

Summer 2003 Contest - North Division - 12 Seed
 * Northern Round 1 --- Defeated (5) Tidus, 58660 [50.68%] - 57078 [49.32%]
 * Northern Quarterfinal --- Lost to (13) Magus, 54529 [49.70%] - 55179 [50.30%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 11th Place [33.60%]

Summer 2004 Contest - Hyrule Division - 8 Seed
 * Hyrule Round 1 --- Defeated (9) Alucard, 50045 [57.16%] - 37512 [42.84%]
 * Hyrule Quarterfinal --- Lost to (1) Link, 10640 [12.10%] - 77295 [87.90%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 10th Place [32.38%]

Few characters have seen more bad luck in the contest setting than Ganondorf. He was snubbed in 2002, but then again, so were a lot of other deserving characters. 2003 was when he first hit the scene, and he made his presence known. After a hard-fought battle with Tidus of Final Fantasy X, Ganondorf turned around and gave Magus the fight of his life when many believed that Magus had a free pass all the way to Link that year. Ganondorf's reward in 2004 was to be horribly underseeded just so that we could see a "dream" match between Ganondorf and Link. If Ganondorf were placed in a more balanced bracket, he could easily be Sweet 16 material year after year, and if he were placed in a bracket that favored him, he could possibly even make the Elite 8. His match with Link proved that he leeches off of Link's popularity in his matches, but if you're going to leech off of any one character, Link is the best choice. There will come a contest in which Ganondorf doesn't have to face off against a fellow character of Sweet 16 caliber in the second round, and we may not only get the pleasure of seeing Ganondorf in the Sweet 16 (or possibly even further), but we may also be lucky enough to see Ganon's Zelda 1 sprite used in the contest.

Spring 2005 Contest - Triforce Division - 1 Seed
 * Triforce Round 1 --- Defeated (8) Giygas, 67715 [84.98%] - 11966 [15.02%]
 * Triforce Semifinal --- Defeated (4) Ansem, 58317 [74.44%] - 20027 [25.56%]
 * Triforce Final --- Defeated (3) Dr. Robotnik, 66693 [76.64%] - 20323 [23.36%]
 * Final Four --- Defeated (7) Diablo, 56848 [65.20%] - 30345 [34.80%]
 * Finals --- Lost to (1) Sephiroth, 43286 [41.83%] - 60193 [58.17%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 2nd Place [41.83%]

Ganondorf's Spring 2005 run was similar to Bowser's in that it was his true coming out party. Ganon was literally a lock for the finals before the contest even started, and he went and proved his worth in the contest itself. He made Giygas look like a complete bum, and though there was a minor hiccup (by the board's standards, at least) against Ansem, one could argue that Ganon underperformed by a percent or two due to him having a bad match picture.

But Ganon's true legacy would come in the latter half of the contest. In a match against Robotnik in which he had an even worse match pic than he had against Ansem, he made Robotnik look absolutely pathetic. For kicks, look at the proper seeding of the Triforce Division based off of extrapolation:


 * (1)Ganondorf
 * (8)Giygas
 * (4)Dr. Robotnik
 * (5)Sin
 * (3)CATS
 * (6)Master Hand
 * (2)Ansem
 * (7)Kuja

That's how bad Ganon made Robotnik look. Then, after nearly doubling the pesky Diablo in the Final Four, Ganon turns around and breaks 41% on Sephiroth. Before this contest, Ganon was only projected to score about 38% on Sephy. For Ganon to do almost 3% better than that is incredible, and though it's possible for this to be the result of anti-Sephiroth voting or some other such nonsense, you can't take away from how good Ganon's performance was in that contest. He is a force that is here to stay.

Summer 2005 Contest - Zebes Division - 3 Seed
 * Zebes Round 1 --- Defeated (6) Yuna, 65476 [61.20%] - 41503 [38.80%]
 * Zebes Semifinal --- Defeated (2) Auron, 53655 [54.10%] - 45514 [45.90%]
 * Zebes Final --- Lost to (1) Samus, 36363 [40.34%] - 53776 [59.66%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 15th Place [30.83%]

Ganondorf, along with Bowser were taken with a grain of salt after their amazing Spring 2005 performances. Bowser would eventually go on to somewhat validate his strength, as would Ganondorf.

Ganon's big match was his showdown with Auron, though some were skeptical of him after his "underperformance" against post-FFX2 Yuna. However many doubts were laid to rest after Ganon easily defeated Auron to prove that he was no joke, and he followed it up by once again breaking 40% on the statistical contest favorite for the second time within months. One of two things happened in Ganon/Samus; either Ganon only suffered enough SFF for his Zelda boost to be canceled out, or his 2004 value was spot-on. Regardless, Ganon is no slouch.

And he has Twilight Princess on the horizon. It may be odd to think of Ganon on the level of Sonic or Mega Man, but it could happen.

Summer 2006 Contest - Blast Division - 4 Seed
 * Blast Round 1 --- Lost to (5) Vincent, 60685 [47.41%] - 67321 [52.59%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 14th Place [38.35%]

Given how strong Nintendo has gotten over the past three years, I still have no clue how Ganon lost this match. It wasn't even Ganon losing so much as how badly he just laid down after the first ten minutes. Compared to other Nintendo characters in this very contest, it was rather stunning.

Summer 2007 Contest - Division 5 - Second Group
 * Division 5 Round 1 --- 1st place, 63805 [49.10%] - Vergil, 25168 [19.37%] - Thrall, 21979 [16.91%] - Ratchet, 18987 [14.61%]
 * Division 5 Round 2 --- 1st place, 43349 [31.06%] - Luigi, 39230 [28.11%] - Mudkip, 34851 [24.97%] - Vergil Sparda, 22130 [15.86%]
 * Division 5 Finals --- 3rd place, 31809 [22.47%] - Master Chief, 50156 [35.42%] - Luigi, 33242 [23.48%] - Yuna, 26384 [18.63%]

Ever since Link absolutely plastered Ganondorf back in 2004, people have questioned his ability to handle SFF against other Nintendo characters. We may have gotten a partial answer to that this year. After beating down a fourpack of scrubs in the first round, the Zelda villain found himself in a bit of trouble. It took him until the early morning to take the lead away from Mudkip, and he was never able to distance himself comfortably from Luigi, which left his supporters a little worried with the sprite round and Bacondorf coming up, especially considering he was a board favorite to make a deep run into the contest. In the third round, Ganon was never able to build much of a lead on Luigi, a sure sign he was in big trouble. A few hours in, Mario's little bro had taken the lead, and he never looked back.

People may excuse what happened to Ganondorf as a fluke due to the format and his pig sprite, but the question still remains. Luigi is a strong midcarder, but he's certainly not a Noble Nine breaker. How would Ganon handle SFF against Bowser? Can he ever muster the strength to contend with the Noble Nine, as many still think he can? We'll need another year to find out.