Results[]
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Ulti's Analysis[]
| Division | Division 3 |
|---|---|
| Match # | 73 |
| Match Date | Tuesday, April 14, 2020 |
| Oracle Expectations |
Smash Bros. Ultimate - 66.70% 53 for - 0 against |
| GameFAQs Prediction |
Smash Bros. Ultimate - 74.96% |
| User Votes |
Smash Bros. Ultimate - 6093 Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - 3288 |
| Anonymous Votes |
Smash Bros. Ultimate - 5521 Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - 3356 |
Go back to my Zelda/Bayonetta writeup from round 1. I was pretty upset over that entire match, but Bayonetta being wasted was only half of it. I'm also upset that Link Between Worlds was wasted this contest on such a predictable path, because that game deserved far better. The case can be made that it's the best Zelda game in the entire series, specifically because of how the MP works. There is no stock on your items, and the MP recharges over time. The game actively encourages you to go nuts using your items, which is something that was sorely missing in the Zelda series until this game came along. The Link's Awakening remake for the Switch is actually the game I'm playing currently, and the item stock thing is just beyond old. I really hope that moving forward, Zelda games adopt the recharging MP model.
That wasn't the only reason the game was amazing, either. It has the best use for the 3D function on the entire 3DS, some of the best dungeon design in the entire series (if not the best outright), and some incredible map design and puzzles involving the switch between light world and dark world. The game's title is apt, and it does such an unbelievable job with it. If you guys haven't played that game, you need to.
That's why it sucked watching the game be an 8 seed and get fed to Smash Ultimate so early. Trust me, I have no hate toward Ultimate and I enjoyed seeing a Zelda game get destroyed as much as anyone, but it deserved to go an extra round or two first.
By the way, it is incredibly rare for a Zelda game to get utterly destroyed like this in a contest poll. "How rare is it?", I can hear people asking. Sounds like it's time for another PCA List™!
Here is a list of the worst 1v1 losses Zelda has had in contests. I'm only bringing up 1v1 because there are some incredibly strange results from the LOL 4ways:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zujhPRcjEkc
Oops.
Not counting the bonus poll from this year, no Zelda game has ever finished below 40% in any 1v1 contest poll. Ever. It's never happened to Link, either. What's even more hilarious about this run of domination is that Zelda's contest history includes a poll that happened between Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past in 2015. One might assume an SFF beating, but no. Link to the Past scored 40.1%: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/6173-best-game-ever-day-38-quarterfinal-zelda-ocarina-of-time-vs
As annoying as Link Between Worlds' path was in this contest, it was simultaneously fascinating to see a Zelda game get utterly aethered like this. Enjoy this one while you can, because you might never see it again. It took 18 years of contests to see Link or one of his games finish below 40%, though I suspect Skyward Sword, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, or Minish Cap could potentially fall that low if they ever got into one of these things.
It was a very, very good showing by Smash, although Mario Odyssey would once again one-up it.
Ctes's Analysis[]
A Link Between Worlds becomes the second of the competing Game of the Year winner to exit competition. It did however lose to another Game of the Year winner, so there was no way around one of them going out today. ALBW is really one of the most screwed games in the bracket when it comes to bracket placement. The adjusted x-stats showed it in fifteenth, so not only did it exit perhaps two rounds earlier than it deserved, it also didn’t get to have the least bit interesting match, not only getting one of the best games in the bracket, but getting one that likely SFF’d it a lot.
I know we don’t want to have Zelda games destroying the bracket, but there were only two of them anyways and ALBW wouldn’t have been too dominant. I’m sure it just didn’t get the nominations it needed to get higher, but there’s only one other #1 seed that’d suck more to put it against. After it was snubbed in 2015, we might have finally got a real read on it, but no. It likely won’t be coming back either, because the console Zelda will have priority in future nomination periods. This was its best chance.
A Link Between Worlds is a fantastic game. I know it didn’t win the prize anywhere else that it did here and many believe The Last of Us should have won back then. In any case, ALBW was really good and did a lot of things every Zelda fan missed. Being the handheld game after Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks is easy, but more people seemed more positive towards it upon any other release since perhaps Ocarina of Time. Twilight Princess, Wind Waker and even Majora’s Mask had people a bit more split upon release. Hell, even Breath of the Wild, which largely overshadowed it, had people more split. Breath of the Wild even got all the credit for being nonlinear, but ALBW was that too! It deserves a bit more praise than what we’re giving it at the end of the decade.
It’s hard to tell how much SFF there is here, but if you believe there is a lot, then Ultimate once again doesn’t look as good as Super Mario Odyssey does. It’s tough to truly determine anything because usually Zelda is before Smash Bros in the Nintendo hierarchy. If you believe the same here happened today, then it looks extremely good, but that’s unlikely. The hierarchy is more a rule of thumb when it comes to the games, it doesn’t apply for every single entry obviously. Exactly where A Link Between Worlds stood today also wasn’t too apparent, so this round wasn’t very good for comparing Ultimate and Odyssey.
Safer777's Analysis[]
So maybe the 2nd strongest game here again a Portable Zelda game. Yeah no need to analyze stuff much right? I will say one thing only. This match is the biggest loss for a Zelda game ever! History here people! Seriously even in SFF matches no Zelda game ever had finished under 40% but LBW finished with around 36% as you can see! Man people really don't like portable games. Unless they are Pokemon games I guess? This match will always be remembered as the worst defeat for a Zelda game ever so it will be mentioned a lot in the future!
So for the match. Obviously Smash would win. BUT the crew overestimated Smash. Most had it above 70%. I mean yeah it is Smash VS one of the weakest Zelda games here, but it still is a Zelda game! So yeah even when Zelda games/characters lose they still overperform! Typical Zelda dominance!
Tsunami's Analysis[]
Pretty standard SFF match here. ALBW did well to avoid the doubling. It was pointed out that SSBU has more Links in it than ALBW has, so yeah, not even the LAW was going to help it here. It was a shame that two GotY winners had to face each other so early in the contest, but at least the 2013 winner could take solace in the fact that the 2012 and 2014 winners were out of the contest, too. In fact, the 2014 winner had never been in it to begin with. That was the year that Smash 4 came out, and being a Smash game is basically an instant win button in GotY oh hey Melee what are you doing there.
Most of the individual consoles' polls in 2001 only got their winner into the final poll, but for some reason the top three finishers in the PS2 poll all made the final poll, and finished 1-2-4. Melee lost to freaking GTA3. Weren't we supposed to be NintendoFAQs, not SonyFAQs? And yet Brawl, 4, and Ultimate all won their years. 4 did it so convincingly that they stopped at just the one final poll!