Results[]
Round One
Ulti's Analysis[]
| Division | Division 7 |
|---|---|
| Match # | 49 |
| Match Date | Tuesday, November 17, 2015 |
| Oracle Expectations |
Grand Theft Auto V - 67.00% 96 for - 0 against |
| GameFAQs Prediction |
Grand Theft Auto V - 84.99% |
This match was the first of a hilarious eightpack in this contest. It featured two GTA games, Oblivion, SMRPG, World of Warcraft, and Chrono Cross. To me the obvious winner of this eightpack was the winner of Oblivion/SMRPG, but that didn't mean we couldn't have a lot of fun with the other stuff.
Our best chance at getting a 1 seed upset in round 1 of this contest was in this match. The 1 seeds in this contest were Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6, Super Mario Bros. 3, Skyrim, Ocarina of Time, Link to the Past, Grand Theft Auto 5, and Metal Gear Solid. One of those things was clearly not like the others, and the right opponent could have thoroughly embarrassed GTA5. Had Phoenix Wright been in Shenmue's place, it's highly possible GTA5 could have lost this match.
As-is GTA5 was still embarrassed, but it at least got to win a match. Shenmue only sold 1.2 million copies, and I say "only" because the game cost something like 60 million dollars to make and was considered a commercial failure by all accounts. Not that this stopped a group of lunatics to start a complete cult following fanbase for the game, and recently the Shenmue 3 kickstarter raised more than 6 million dollars. How such a bust got all these fans is beyond me, but that's gaming for you.
Meanwhile, GTA5 has sold something like 55 million copies to date, and was by far the fastest-selling entertainment product of any venture (TV, video game, movie, you name it). You can seriously make the argument that GTA5 is the biggest success in the history of entertainment, at least financially, which is just wild to think about when you consider things like Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, the NFL, Casablanca, the Thriller album, or anything else. GTA5 has actually been spoken of on those kinds of lists for financial success. Even Forbes has talked about it.
So naturally, GameFAQs despises the GTA series and loves Shenmue. Shenmue actually had GTA5 under 60% for a time, before GTA5 ultimately recovered to get 62% in the final poll. It was an easy win, but hardly becoming of a 1 seed and was surefire proof of impending doom in round 2. It was also one of the best 38% losses you'll ever see in a contest, because GTA5 got thoroughly exposed here. Not that any of us thought GTA5 would be worth anything anyway, but to do this badly against such fodder is really something else.
It's worth noting that before this match, Shenmue the game had never broken 30% on anything and Ryo Hazuki's lone contest win was against Guybrush Threepwood. In 2002. Grand Theft Auto sucks.
Ctes's Analysis[]
Okay, this is how you disappoint greatly as a #1 seed. I mean, we all knew that GTAV was the weakest #1 seed before the contest began and it was the board favorite to lose in round 2 no matter what game it faced. We all knew that GTA would as always be a place where we could embarrass the casuals without even thinking about it. We also all knew that it probably only even got the #1 seed because reviews and stuff matter. But goddamn, this is worse than I expected of it. It's facing a Dreamcast exclusive, how much more terrible can you get? If there was any doubt whatsoever that GATV was a goner in round 2, it stopped here. It's an awful performance that you can't even blame old>new for. Shenmue is still turbo fodder. Last contest it lost 80-20 to Twilight Princess, that's how bad it is. SBAllen himself taking GTAV to win the division shows that there are some things he just never learns while doing these contests, but whatever.
Now, back to the thing about Shenmue appearing in these contests before. I know I complained a lot about this already, but this is the time to complain about it only rivaled by the pre-contest write-up. How in the world can you look at a Dreamcast exclusive that got trashed last contest and think that it would make a better addition that the most legendary video games there is, Super Mario Bros. I don't know if Allen still thinks it's really weak here and would lose to the likes of Halo 1, but that doesn't even matter. Allen said the original Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda were some of the final cuts, meaning he literally chose Shenmue above them. I respect new entrants making the bracket even if we probably know they'll flop. What's the point of Shenmue returning? Had it gotten a much higher seed sure, but you simply don't put in it in this situation. Sure, it had the function of making GTAV look bad, but any game could've done that. Can you imagine how excellent it would've looked to have this matchup?
(1) Grand Theft Auto V (16) Super Mario Bros
That's something I would absolutely love. And I know Super Mario Bros would easily win this match, but it would've had an exciting path. It would probably do the same as Super Mario RPG, but it'd be amazing seeing the original SMB do that, it's a game literally everyone respects, except Allen seemingly, but who else would even mind? And if the idea of excluding most Nintendo and Square from the bottom two divisions were to make something else look good, then just switch Super Mario Bros into another division with one of the other #16 seeds. Although, it was a Square game with Nintendo characters that won the bottom quarter anyway, so it's not like it matters much. I have nothing against the game at all, it's really good, but Shenmue had absolutely no business being in this contest whatsoever. I promise this is the final time I'll go rambling about Super Mario Bros being excluded from the bracket, but I have to go all out this time, because this is the matchup that actually pissed me off.
I understand the idea of giving a bunch of different franchises representation in the bracket, but it makes sense for the Mario franchise to be represented more than anything else, both in terms of quality and quantity. And if the issue is too many Mario games, Super Mario Bros is not the game you exclude. If no one cared for it, then that'd be different, but it was in the top 100 nominations! I simply can't understand the idea that recent games are more deserving of being here in a contest called Best Game Ever. That means of all time. It's not Best Game Today. And Super Mario Bros might've been made pretty obsolete by SMB3, which came out ages ago, but it's influence and status should remain. It deserved the spot. Shenmue did not deserve a second chance. With that, let's leave the case be, I'm finally done complaining.