Results[]
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Ulti's Analysis[]
| Division | Division 5 |
|---|---|
| Match # | 83 |
| Match Date | Wednesday, November 25, 2015 |
| Oracle Expectations |
Donkey Kong Country 2 - 47.73% 23 for - 66 against |
| GameFAQs Prediction |
Donkey Kong Country 2 - 21.94% |
Even though Donkey Kong Country 2 pulled off one of the best upsets of round 1, in our closest wire-to-wire match ever, Fire Emblem was the favorite in round 2. Donkey Kong's failures in debated matches are well-documented, and his failures against Nintendo are also well-documented. Let's not forget that Donkey Kong is the original reason we have something called Same Fanbase Factor in the first place: http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/988-north-division-semifinals-mario-vs-donkey-kong
DKC2 fans were hoping for a win here, but they all knew it was hope at best given DK's contest history. Also worth noting here is Fire Emblem Awakening is a reasonably strong game, and is likely the strongest game in the Fire Emblem series. For that reason, Fire Emblem was the heavy Oracle favorite.
When the match finally started and DKC2 closely won the board vote, there was much rejoicing. There are DKC series fans that have hoped for years to see something from the series make it into round 3 of a contest. Unfortunately Awakening was recovering before the freeze, so DKC2's 50 vote board vote lead shrunk to 33. People kind of figured the match was over at this point.
As fate would have it, the match actually was over at this point, but not in Fire Emblem's favor. Donkey Kong started increasing his lead with constant updates in the 50-55% range, and kept it moving overnight. Fire Emblem made one small push during the dead zone when it cut 50 votes, but DKC2 easily recovered. When the morning vote hit and easily favored DKC2, the match was dead and over. Donkey Kong Country 2 was finally making round 3 of a contest, and it won two close matches to do it. The final number here may have been 52-48, but the match was never truly in doubt.
Given Donkey Kong's propensity to choke in close matches, winning two of them was some weird contest alternate universe. DKC2 making it to round 3 was one of the best stories of this entire contest, especially given how debated this fourpack was pre-contest. It could have potentially been SFFd into the ground by the other three games it shared this fourpack with. Not only did DKC2 resist the old Nintendo SFF bugaboo, but it won. Twice. In close matches.
Donkey Kong's reputation won't be totally erased by this contest, but these two wins sure help erase a lot of it. There was even a reasonable debate to be had with the DKC2/SotN match, which would have been unheard of before this contest. Congrats to Donkey Kong for finally pulling one off.
Ctes' Analysis[]
As someone who had Fire Emblem: Awakening going to round 3, this was a major disappointment. Awakening looked so good to win this match after the first round, but turns out Super Mario Maker is just ridiculously weak even for a Wii U game. I am actually a bit surprised that Xenoblade is apparently the stronger game of it and Awakening. I know it was the favorite to go to round 3, but I expected Awakening to be stronger due to being part of a much more established franchise. Maybe things would've been different if Shulk hadn't gotten Smash exposure and Xenoblade Chronicles X wasn't right around the corner. I get that Xenoblade is generally better received of the people that played both, but I thought more people would know and care for Awakening. That would make it do better on Donkey Kong Country 2 than Xenoblade, which would mean winning this match, as the other one was very close.
It did not happen though! This match is also pretty close, but Awakening was never really in it. DKC2 rushed off to get a good lead. Awakening did make some cuts and in the deadzone seemed like it would make a run for this. Even if it did though, it was pretty clear DKC2 would take it back in the morning, but it didn't even have to wait until then. Awakening failed to get DKC2 much below the 400 lead difference at any point. Once the morning came it never really looked back.
Once again we got confirmed that it really is the Year of SNES. It seemed clear in 2009 that Donkey Kong Country 2 was weaker than its prequel and its prequel was really darn weak. In this contest it's also pretty clear that Donkey Kong Country 2 is the bottom of the barrel (get it) when it comes to SNES games, but the bottom is still really good this time around. Donkey Kong Country 2 was just at the right place in bracket to advance a couple of rounds and also end up looking really good like the rest of the SNES collection. It was screwed in the next round, but most people expected it to look great going out in round 3 with its performances in the first two rounds. I love Awakening, but seeing some appreciation for the best Donkey Kong game is nice. Diddy Kong really does not choke like his father does!