Results[]
Ulti's Analysis[]
| Division | Snake Division |
|---|---|
| Match # | 06 |
| Match Date | Friday, July 7th, 2006 |
| Vote difference | 14,286 |
| Oracle Expectations |
Fire Emblem - 54.58% 125 for - 36 against |
| GameFAQs Prediction |
Fire Emblem - 50.65% (23,399 brackets) |
This was pretty much the "stinker" match of the contest in that everyone expected it to have the lowest vote totals and least amount of excitement, despite it being somewhat up in the air. Think Vyse/Laharl from 2004. Yet even still, the match broke 100,000 votes. And yes, this was the lowest-scoring bout of the contest. Crazy stuff.
Despite the prediction percentage being even, this was an affair in which the casual bracketmaker went one way, but Board 8 went the other. 8 more or less favored Fire Emblem by a mile, and for good reason. This was a match between two cultish series, and whichever one was less cult would win. Silent Hill, even with a movie, didn't look able to match the up-and-coming status of the Fire Emblem series. Two characters made it into SSBM, the first-ever Fire Emblem game to hit the US sold over 1 million copies, and there have been two Fire Emblem games released here since. Fire Emblem Wii is also on the way, plus Fire Emblem is Nintendo. How could Silent Hill, which is cult in every sense of the word, even compare to this?
Even more telling is that two of the people that spammed Silent Hill nominations to hell and back in the first place (Inviso and FFDragon) admitted that the game was overseeded and bound to lose. Vlado was more or less the only Board 8 regular I can think of that actually favored a Silent Hill win, with such stunning evidence as "no one cares about the Fire Emblem series". Everyone else more or less agreed Silent Hill would lose with ease.
And lose it did. Fire Emblem started the match on fire (lolcwuti.... oh screw it), saw its percentage level off below 60, then proceeded to win in rather typical "stinker" fashion. It increased its lead easily, lost an update every now and then, was never in any real danger of winning, and finished with a 57-43 blowout win. Cue mass whining from Silent Hill fans who overestimated the mainstream value of their series carrying over to a GameFAQs poll. And for the millionth time, a movie or TV commercial or whatever doesn't matter without the popularity of games to back up said appearances.
From a totally biased point of view, I'm glad Fire Emblem won. I've yet to play a game in the series that I haven't liked, and it deserved vindication after that horrendous loss to FFTA two years ago. It's a shame it was stuck in one-and-out mode, but a win is better than nothing. Yay FE!
Match Trends[]
