Results[]
Monday, November 23, 2015
Ulti's Analysis[]
| Division | Division 3 |
|---|---|
| Match # | 74 |
| Match Date | Monday, November 23, 2015 |
| Oracle Expectations |
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - 54.41% 83 for - 10 against |
| GameFAQs Prediction |
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - 25.64% |
During round 2's Undertale rally, two of the matches were relatively normal and unaffected. This was one of them, with FF8 vs Super Mario World being the other.
Some people thought Sonic 2 might fold to Uncharted 2 in this match, and those who thought Sonic 2 would win did not think it would be a beating to this degree. The Oracle undershot Sonic by a fair amount, and it would have happened even without Undertale going on. Sonic started this poll well above 60%, and only gained a couple of percentage points in the afternoon when the rally showed up. Worth noting here is that of the 4 matches that happened on this particular day, this one had the lowest vote totals.
It was a damn impressive win by Sonic 2, though the reasons for this happening were unclear. All we had ever seen from the game before this was beating Shining Force a couple times, an SFF beating at the hands of Mario World in 2004, and that weird FF6/Link's Awakening/Sonic 2/Mortal Kombat 2 match from 2009. I suppose one could make the case Sonic 2 was a hidden beast this entire time, but that contradicts Portal 2 in round 1. I don't really think Portal 2 has much strength.
The true reason is likely Uncharted 2's Game of the Decade run being extremely overrated, plus this contest having a massive theme of old games shitting all over new games in a fair bracket. This match was one of the many examples of it, but the sheer level of this blowout was still impressive. Not that the love would last, because the rallyers abandoned Sonic rather quickly next round.
By the way, Sonic 2 is the best Sonic game. Being the first one to let you crouch and rev up like a car was awesome, plus it introduced Tails and Super Sonic. Who doesn't love Tails and Super Sonic?
Ctes' Analysis[]
This match was also a huge somewhat significantly from rally spillover. This probably would've been a 60-40 victory without rally spillover, Sonic 2 was easily winning right from the start, but this would have been far from a doubling. Pokemon is easily the series that would receive the biggest boost from Undertale's rallying, but Mario at least does to some extend. Sonic does a lot too and Uncharted does in no way whatsoever. This was a painful match to watch for me. Uncharted 2 is my favorite PS3 game and probably top 20 of all time. Sonic 2 is an excellent game too, but in a contest where old games were already heavily favored, Uncharted 2 did not deserve to get destroyed even more than it was already doing to be.
Of course, this match was never in any doubt, rally spillover or not. It was pretty obvious from before the contest that the winner of Sonic 2 vs. Portal 2 would go ahead and beat Uncharted 2 in the battle of sequels, though I must say that before rally spillover I expected Uncharted 2 to be a bit closer than this. Games from last generation in general are pretty weak here, in particular ones that aren't part of a well-established franchise. Uncharted 2 had a prequel yes, but it was the same that made the franchise what it was today. The first one is mediocre, but nothing special. Not to mention the prequel was on the same console. The Last of Us looked like it would've given Sonic 2 quite a match to name a similar PS3 exclusive. I would've expect the difference between those two to be that big. We have Fallout 3 looking really great next to this match and it did in the past as well. That's multi-platform, but still! Uncharted 2 definitely also sufferede from NostalgiaFAQs being bigger than ever. It would surely beat Halo today, but it would lose to games it wouldn't have lost to in 2010, that's for sure. Glad to see it have some appreciation through its seeding at least!
With a sad disappointing result from Uncharted 2, it's nice to see the sole Sonic representative of the bracket due good. NostalgiaFAQs is great for a series that sucked for many recent years and even if it's generally okay again, is nowhere near where it used to be. It's similar to how it was nice seeing the only Mega Man game exceed expectations. Many of us had Sonic 2 going to round 3, but Portal 2 was the clear favorite. Uncharted 2 might be the casual favorite I guess, though I could imagine both it and Portal 2 having a fair share. Portal 2 lost early, but at least it didn't get to suffer from a rally spillover destruction that Uncharted 2 did today and Sonic 2 would next round. There was actually some people arguing that Sonic 2 doing this well today would mean it could avoid a bigger beatdown from RBY than it usually would've. I can see where people from coming from, but there's a clear hierarchy in that regard. Wonder where Animal Crossing would fit into that!