Results[]
| Division | North Division |
|---|---|
| Match # | 7 |
| Match Date | Sunday, July 7th, 2002 |
| Vote difference | 4,975 |
| GameFAQs Prediction |
Pikachu - 64.82% (10,866 brackets) |
Ulti's Analysis[]
Many "anti" factors are discussed on Board 8, from anti-Square to anti-Nintendo to anti-Xbox to even anti-RPG. But of all the anti factors that do or do not exist, the only one that truly matters is the anti-Pokémon factor. Pikachu and Pokémon used to be decent enough, but thanks to the series being advertised on everything from suppositories to goat fondue, not to mention the fact that the games are constantly thrown in everyone's faces over and over and over again, Pokémon quickly grew to be one of the most hated series on GameFAQs, if not gaming itself. Pokémon still has a very solid fanbase, but that fanbase is simply not on GameFAQs. Pokémon is loathed around here (for the most part, anyway; I'm well aware that quite a decent amount of people here play the games and visit the boards), and it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. When most of the board is rooting for PaRappa the Rapper to defeat you, you know you have some problems.
Even funnier was the fact that once the match started, Pikachu managed to have a moment of glory in his own spotlight. Sure the match was relatively close (find a Pokémon poll held on this site in which Pokémon actually does well), but Pikachu was never in any danger of losing the match. Not that this stopped virtually the entire board from rooting for PaRappa, of course. When I say Pokémon is hated around here, I'm not kidding.
PaRappa the Rapper had virtually the entire board's support in the match, and we were rooting like hell for him to come back, albeit in vain. It was one of the single funniest matches in the history of the contest, because even though most people knew Pikachu had the match locked down, they didn't care. If anything, this was more PaRappa's time in the sun than it was Pikachu's, because the odds of PaRappa ever returning to the contest were slim at best. As for Pikachu's seven fans, they realized that this was likely the only chance he had of ever having a victory in the contest, because with the hate that Pikachu generated during a match with PaRappa, it was unlikely that Pikachu would ever take down anyone of substance.
Bias aside, Pikachu won this match because he managed to go up against a character more hated than he is, and even then, most of the board was rooting against him. It was quite the sight to see.
Stats and Analysis[]
Before the Match[]
This was one of those matches where many took Pikachu to win, but almost everyone wanted PaRappa the Rapper to win. Back in 2k2 there was massive Pokémon hate, mostly because of the overadvertising of Pokémon over the past few years. At the time along with the Xbox Pokemon was the most hated thing on GameFAQs In the center of the advertising was Pikachu; who was the only Pokémon where both fans and anti-fans alike would vote against and the tv show wasn't helping either. If there were any Pikachu fans on the board they were very quiet. PaRappa is from PaRappa the Rapper, another game this was also hated on GameFAQs, but not as much as Pikachu was.
After the Match[]
Pikachu may have won the match, but during the whole day everyone was hoping for PaRappa to comeback. Even when it looked like it was impossible for him to people were still cheering on PaRappa. The match was basically Pokemon fans vs anti-Pokemon fans and had PaRappa had any fans he probably could've won. After the match any of those quiet Pikachu fans knew he had no chance against his next opponent and that this will probably be Pikachu's only win in the contest.
Interesting Fact[]
- Pikachu is the 2nd least impressive winner in contest history.