Ulti's Analysis[]
We've seen Link deliver some epic SFF beatdowns over the years, notably that famous 88-12 beatdown of Ganondorf back in 2004. So when this match happened, people assumed it was just another SFF beating. Pikachu did "okay" for a little while, but it wasn't long before Link started getting updates well into the 70% range. Which is insane when you think about it, but this was a Link boosted by the power of Smash Ultimate and Breath of the Wild. No one in this contest was going to touch the dude. Not even Pikachu during the sprite round. Link was just on a whole other level this year.
As for the so-called SFF. Pokemon in general resists SFF against Nintendo very well, and I don't think Pikachu suffered from it by more than a percent or two here. Reason being if you just take the 31.59% number he got here and just add a single percentage point, it puts Pikachu right at the level of where all the other near-elite Nintendo characters are. Add 1.5% and it's probably exactly where he belongs. We'll use KP's stats as an example:
Pikachu - 33.09%
Mega Man X - 32.98
Ganondorf - 32.98
Pikachu - 32.59%
Luigi - 32.2
Bowser - 32.06
Kirby - 32
Sonic the Hedgehog - 31.65
Yoshi - 31.51
We have some precedent for this if you start looking from 2004 and on.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1778-tournament-semifinal-link-vs-mega-man
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3842-hyrule-division-final-link-vs-luigi
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3826-hyrule-division-round-3-link-vs-mega-man-x
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3850-final-rounds-quarterfinal-link-vs-sonic
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3854-final-rounds-semifinal-link-vs-mario
So yeah, I don't know exactly how much SFF Pikachu ate here. Not that it matters, we're splitting hairs here anyway because there's never anything else to talk about when Link blows people out. Pikachu's Super Bowl was last round when he beat Mega Man and ended the Noble Nine. Just getting to this point and winning a match in the legends bracket like this was super clutch of him.
Safer777's Analysis[]
Link always wins. LAW we call it here. So he would win. But to tell the truth I was sure that Pikachu would avoid a doubling. And look at this. Link is so strong that it is ridiculous. Pretty sure everyone wants him to retire by now. Every other character here can be defeated by other characters. But not Link. Without rallies I mean of course. So of course he dominated here. I told before the contest that nobody would be able to break 35%. Maybe Cloud will do it. Still nobody will break 40% on him though no matter what I believe.
As for Pika he did goot. Did anyone expected to reach that far and did so good against Link? So that is.
Tsunami's Analysis[]
So yeah, about that Pikachu...
In 2007, he made it to the quarterfinals, which due to the fourway format meant Top 16 instead of Top 8, but nevertheless it meant outlasting 7/8 of the field. But everyone just chalked it up to SFF and LFF, and possibly Tidus having a reputation as a choker. With Pikachu handily getting second behind Leon Kennedy in Round 2, the idea that it was SFF/LFF that let him win his Round 3 fourpack might not have been totally unwarranted (although you have to figure that Leon might have benefited from STF in Round 2, being the protagonist of a dark, mature horror game against three bright, colorful characters).
In 2008, Pikachu makes the quarterfinals again. Absolutely no one is accusing him of being the beneficiary of SFF this time; if anything, he's catching flak in the early rounds for dishing it out, allowing Arthas Menethil to advance over Ike and take 3rd place in Round 2 over Captain Falcon. But mostly they didn't really care because he knocked out L-Block, and because Samus's presence meant he wouldn't get in the way of the Crono-Vincent rubber match.
In 2010, Pikachu takes a step back and is knocked out in Round 3, which despite the return to 1v1s is once again the Round of 32. But then the raw X-Stats come out and he's 6th. Again, this is quietly swept away because it's Solid Shit vs. ...wait, is that a HeartGold/SoulSilver sprite, mere days after the game came out in the United States? Damn Pikachu had the pic advantage! We always talk about the sprite round being good for Pokémon, but a true "first appearance" theme like they have in a lot of the sprite rounds (though not this year; for example, the Legend of Zelda crew was rocking ALttP sprites) would actually be kind of iffy because the Gen I sprites are pretty hideous, especially if you truly enforced the letter of the law and used Japanese Red/Green sprites instead of the Japanese Blue sprites that were carried over to the international releases.
In 2013, people are griping about Pikachu benefiting from SFF before it even happens, praying for Otacon to upset Magus so that Crono can get a fair shot at Pikachu. Pikachu wins handily, then resists LFF from Pokémon Trainer Blue, another SFF beneficiary, to edge out Sora for the Top 9. Board 8 was surprised for some reason when he managed to take second in the semifinal trio over fellow Gen I icon Squirtle; personally, I'm more surprised that he wasn't able to repeat the feat in the Fourth Place Match against Mewtwo (though Mewtwo rSFFing Pikachu seems logical given how Mewtwo was the cool, edgy overpowered final boss type, and I think maybe also a higher tier in Melee? I don't know; I don't follow competitive Smash. Then again, being more popular within the fanbase was a justification we often used for picking hilarious upsets in the early years, and this was probably the first time it actually came through.)
And now here he was again, having advanced out of the Top 16. Due to the double-elimination format, this merely put him into the Top 12, not the Top 8, but nevertheless: Pikachu is legit. There's really no denying it. Getting more than doubled by Link is nothing to be ashamed of; it's even happened to Noble Niners. In 1v1s, even. His loss here set up a rematch with Mega Man, and given how close the first match was, it was no guarantee that he'd win again...but it was no guarantee that he'd lose, either.
We really need to stop using the term "Noble Nine" in the context of measuring contest strength. The Noble Nine will always be the Noble Nine, and can never be added to or subtracted from. They are the original nine Elites, who have been in every contest and have been elite in every contest--yes, even when Crono got beat in Round 1 by a glitchy pile of garbage data, because that falls under the purview of "rallies". But as of this contest, it's clear that they have legitimate company in the highest tier (well, the highest tier is still just Link by himself, but aside from that). Zelda, Pikachu, probably Tifa. I'm still not entirely convinced that Mega Man X isn't really close to Mega Man Classic in indirect strength, and losing to Tifa doesn't invalidate that because she's part of this group of "new elites". Outside of the ever-dangerous rallybait, it would surprise me if any of them were to lose to competition outside of each other and the Noble Nine, even though all of them have done so in the past. (Well, X hasn't outside of getting double-barrel SFFed by Link and Mario, but that's because it took him so long to debut.)