Results[]
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Ulti's Analysis[]
| Division | Division 6 |
|---|---|
| Match # | 87 |
| Match Date | Thursday, November 26, 2015 |
| Oracle Expectations |
Super Metroid - 54.86% 72 for - 16 against |
| GameFAQs Prediction |
Super Metroid - 45.83% |
It was pretty easy to see this coming once Super Metroid damn near broke 80% on Call of Duty 4, but even still, seeing this actually happen was a surreal experience. I'm pulling up this list again because it's extremely important to realize just how badly Samus used to collapse the second Mario or Link showed up to face off against her in a poll.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/1633-division-8-round-2-super-mario-bros-3-vs-metroid
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/2122-tournament-quarterfinal-mario-vs-samus-aran
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/2562-battle-royale-day-1
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3304-contest-semifinal-link-mario-samus-crono
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3482-division-3-round-2-s-metroid-s-mario-kart-zelda-lttp-dk
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3496-division-3-final-zelda-lttp-s-metroid-ff3-zelda-la
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3467-division-6-round-1-gtavc-k-hearts-metroid-prime-paper-mario (all it took was a game named "Mario" in the poll, any game, to cause Metroid Prime to get third place!)
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/4567-final-rounds-quarterfinal-pokemon-trainer-red-vs-blue-samus
Every contest veteran knows that list by heart, or at least knows of what would happen to Samus against Mario or Link. 77% of gurus picked Galaxy for a reason. We aren't dumb when it comes to knowing our old contest matches. There are other matches where Samus looked respectable in losses, but they were still losses, like the 2003 loss to Link 1v1. Those of us that have sat here for 10+ years watching Mario and Link just beat Samus at will never thought we would see a day where this ever went the other way.
Seeing Super Metroid go out there and just beat the absolute piss out of Mario Galaxy for a 60-40 beatdown... it filled us Metroid fans with determination. We finally got to see Metroid get one over on Mario, which was deemed an impossible ask before this match. People may look back on this and say we should have seen it coming, but no. There was no way to see this coming pre-contest, given the history. This blowout was a really big deal when it happened, and it will continue to be a big deal for years after the fact. This will go down as the match where Mario's magic finally and utterly disappeared. There were hints before this, but Mario always had an excuse. The Vivi loss was a rally. The RBYG > Mario 3 loss, even though Mario 3 probably lost anyway, was "still just a rally" according to a lot of Mario fans.
But this match? No excuse whatsoever. Mario went out there and got his ass beat from pillar to post. Galaxy is no joke, either. It made round 3 of Game of the Decade, and had it gotten a better draw and not run into Twilight Princess it easily could have gone a lot farther. Galaxy is viewed by many as the defining Mario game, in a similar arena to how Mario 1 saved gaming and Mario 64 invented 3D. Galaxy is viewed as the game that gave us motion controls. You guys know my opinion on motion controls, but a lot of people like them and it's become a mainstream thing now. We have Galaxy to thank for that. And none of it mattered, because Super Metroid shut it all down.
On a personal level, I absolutely loved this. Fuck motion controls, and fuck Mario Galaxy for helping infect gaming with them. On an objective level, this was a clear and obvious example of old games embarrassing new games in a fair bracket. The 90s was absolutely on the warpath this contest, and when people look back on this contest years from now to show examples of just how hard gamers on this site prefer the 90s, this might be the first match cited. It deserves to be, too. It really cannot be stressed enough just how insane it was to watch Samus lay a 60-40 beatdown on a strong Mario game and end the "Mario clutch" for good. Not only did the 90s thing matter, but gamers were clearly taking the "Best Game Ever" title into account when voting. I'm sorry, but Galaxy doesn't deserve to be anywhere near such a title.
ITS' FREAKING MARIO™ died this contest, and Super Metroid killed it. and I for one could not be happier, given the game that was sacrificed at the altar to make it happen. Even better than that was how Super Metroid's contest wasn't necessarily over yet. A few years ago, people would view a Super Metroid vs Majora's Mask match as an easy SFF beatdown in Zelda's favor. But this was 2015, and the whole game changed with this one match.
Maybe one day we'll see a Mario vs Samus rematch with Samus getting the ultimate revenge of all.
Ctes' Analysis[]
This match was quite astonishing. I mean, after the insane blowout Super Metroid delivered in round 1, people were beginning to expect this. A few called it pre-contest too, but not too many. Yet this result still came off really shocking. Seriously, this is huge. Super Metroid has never looked good in these contests at all. Link to the Past kept SFF'ing it badly each time, but it was so much that Super Metroid got severely underestimated this contest. But even after its convincing round 1 victory, there were still a great amount of people believing Super Mario Galaxy could take this match. I guess for some, Call of Duty is just that bad, but the main reason people was holding on was probably the usual Nintendo Hierarchy. You know, the one that says Zelda > Mario > Samus > the rest. It carries over to game contests too and it's almost bulletproof with only Pokemon having shown to be completely out of that system.
It broke today though! Super Metroid easily disposed of Super Mario Galaxy and I don't even think it can be blamed on consoles only. It's the Year of SNES indeed, but Super Mario Galaxy is from when the Wii was at its peak and it's not like the consoles get make up for this much. Super Metroid might've gotten stronger than we thought, but it's clear as day that it was pummeled too hard by SFF in previous contests and we just weren't aware of its strength. I try my best to give Super Metroid tons of props here, because initially people were taking this as another chance to laugh at Mario, something he really didn't deserve here, because Super Mario Galaxy did just fine, just like any othe Mario game in the contest that didn't have “Maker” in the title, it's just that Super Metroid was a champ. Fortunately, I do believe that became clearer to everybody when Super Metroid had what was arguably the best match of the contest next round.
I'm thinking the hierarchy actually never applied too much, at least, I don't think it ever caused such a thing as rSFF. Sure, Mario definitely made Samus look worse than she was back then, but there's no way Mario wasn't just stronger that year. I have no doubt in my mind Samus loses to Vivi too with Ganondorf in the poll. The hierarchy only works in the way that it describes the series popularity overall. Super Metroid looked incredible this contest, but it's also now confirmed as the strongest Metroid game here and SMB3, SMW and SM64 would all easily beat it. Galaxy is good, but it's nowhere near those. More often than not, you can use the hierarchy when having games from the same system, assuming they are the strongest games of their respective franchises on that system. There are very few exceptions to this, in fact, I think only on the NES do I believe it's completely wrong, where Mario is clearly stronger than Zelda.
It's still clear that Super Mario Galaxy is stronger than its sequel, which is somewhat of a shame. It's sequel did pretty much everything better gameplay wise and I think that's a very popular opinion too. Even so, it didn't get the same attention of all. The first one was more beautiful and the idea of taking Mario to space was original at time. It completely took us by storm doing the peak of the Wii. I enjoyed Galaxy 2 more, but I do remember being much more excited with the first one. I really hope Nintendo finds a way to top that excitement with future installments, but it's gonna be tough. The Wii was on decline come Galaxy 2, which clearly doesn't help either. The base station wasn't as cool looking, which is your first real impression of visuals, not to mention the absence of Rosalina or a character that could leave the audience with a similar reaction. It's great that Super Mario Galaxy 2 got to show itself as worthy, despite people seeing it as a flaw, but there probably isn't need for both of them next time.
Looking back on this match, it makes so much sense, yet we all went crazy when the poll went up. I guess most of us just went with Galaxy without thinking too much about it. Even if Super Metroid was always strong and just didn't have a fair chance, it still contributed greatly to making the SNES look god-like this contest during the first rounds in particular. Super Metroid looked great to day and we were greatful of what it brought to the contest, but the best had yet to come! You gotta give it to Metroid for delivering some real good round 3 matches this contest.