Best Game of 2008 Tournament

These are the results of the 2008 edition of the Best Game of the Year Tournament, ran by The Raven 2 in early 2009. One notable feat in this tournament included the biggest blowout against a game that didn't receive a single vote, which was accomplished when Fallout 3 defeated One Piece: Unlimited Adventure 26-0. The winner of the contest was Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, which became the first game to defeat three #1 seeds (a feat that has only been done two more times since), and as a #4 seed, it is the lowest seed to win a Game of the Year tournament.

Best Game of Each Month in 2008, according to Board 8

Month	Game of the Month
January	Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
February	Professor Layton & the Curious Village
March	Super Smash Bros. Brawl
April	The World Ends With You
May	Boom Blox
June	Metal Gear Solid 4
July	Soul Calibur IV
August	Tales of Vesperia
September	Rock Band 2
October	Fallout 3
November	Chrono Trigger DS
December	Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

Vault Division				Fallout 3 Professor Layton	Fallout 3 SSB Brawl	SSB Brawl Persona 4	Persona 4
(1) Fallout 3 (16) One Piece: Unlimited Adventure	Fallout 3 Apollo Justice	Fallout 3 Soul Calibur IV
(8) Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (9) Penny Arcade Adventures Episode One
(5) Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (12) World of Goo	World of Goo Soul Calibur IV
(4) Soul Calibur IV (13) The Last Remnant
(6) Valkyria Chronicles (11) Madden NFL 09	Valkyria Chronicles Professor Layton	Professor Layton Tales of Vesperia
(3) Professor Layton & the Curious Village (14) NHL 09
(7) Prince of Persia (10) Guitar Hero: World Tour	Prince of Persia Tales of Vesperia
(2) Tales of Vesperia (15) N+
Final Destination Division				SSB Brawl Left 4 Dead
(1) Super Smash Bros. Brawl (16) Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon	SSB Brawl Kirby SS Ultra	SSB Brawl No More Heroes
(8) Kirby Super Star Ultra (9) Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
(5) No More Heroes (12) Castle Crashers	No More Heroes AW: Days of Ruin
(4) Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (13) Civilization Revolution
(6) Ninja Gaiden II (11) Wii Fit	Ninja Gaiden II Left 4 Dead	Left 4 Dead Chrono Trigger DS
(3) Left 4 Dead (14) Wario Land: Shake It!
(7) Mario Kart Wii (10) Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories	Mario Kart Wii Chrono Trigger DS
(2) Chrono Trigger DS (15) Barkley Shut Up & Jam Gaiden
Nanomachines Division				Metal Gear Solid 4 Grand Theft Auto IV	Metal Gear Solid 4 Persona 4
(1) Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (16) Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility	Metal Gear Solid 4 Trauma Center: UtK2	Metal Gear Solid 4 Braid
(8) Burnout Paradise (9) Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2
(5) Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift (12) Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen	Dragon Quest IV Braid
(4) Braid (13) Mario Super Sluggers
(6) Disgaea 3 (11) Gears of War 2	Gears of War 2 LittleBigPlanet	LittleBigPlanet Grand Theft Auto IV
(3) LittleBigPlanet (14) Animal Crossing: City Folk
(7) Dead Space (10) Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts	Dead Space Grand Theft Auto IV
(2) Grand Theft Auto IV (15) Tom Clancy's EndWar
Shibuya Division				Persona 4 Mega Man 9
(1) The World Ends With You (16) Sonic Unleashed	TWEWY Lost Odyssey	TWEWY Persona 4
(8) Fable II (9) Lost Odyssey
(5) Boom Blox (12) Devil May Cry 4	Devil May Cry 4 Persona 4
(4) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (13) Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
(6) Final Fantasy IV DS (11) Mirror's Edge	Final Fantasy IV DS Mega Man 9	Mega Man 9 Rock Band 2
(3) Mega Man 9 (14) Spore
(7) Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (10) God of War: Chains of Olympus	Order of Ecclesia Rock Band 2
(2) Rock Band 2 (15) Pure

Best of 2008 X-Stats

1. 50.00% Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
2. 48.61% Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
3. 46.48% Super Smash Bros. Brawl
4. 45.83% Mega Man 9
5. 44.49% Left 4 Dead
6. 44.44% The World Ends with You
7. 41.31% Fallout 3
8. 41.16% Final Fantasy 4 DS
9. 38.91% Professor Layton and the Curious Village
10. 38.36% Soul Calibur IV
11. 37.91% Tales of Vesperia
12. 35.59% Chrono Trigger DS
13. 33.66% Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
14. 32.91% Rock Band 2
15. 32.08% Prince of Persia
16. 31.77% Wario Land: Shake It!
17. 31.48% Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
18. 31.46% Valkyria Chronicles
19. 30.12% Mario Kart Wii
20. 29.62% Lost Odyssey
21. 29.62% Sonic Unleashed
22. 29.41% Devil May Cry 4
23. 28.60% Kirby Super Star Ultra
24. 28.42% World of Goo
25. 27.08% Ninja Gaiden II
26. 26.25% N+
27. 26.23% Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
28. 26.19% Mirror's Edge
29. 25.28% No More Heroes
30. 24.31% Braid
31. 24.31% Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2
32. 24.18% Advance Wars: Day of Ruin
33. 22.88% Boom Blox
34. 21.82% Fable II
35. 20.47% Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
36. 19.34% Civilization Revolution
37. 19.23% Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 1
38. 18.52% Grand Theft Auto 4
39. 17.71% The Last Remnant
40. 16.91% Burnout Paradise
41. 16.90% Rune Factory 2
42. 16.46% LittleBigPlanet
43. 15.79% Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
44. 15.56% Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility
45. 14.44% Castle Crashers
46. 14.24% Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2: Grimoire of the Rift
47. 13.90% NHL '09
48. 13.89% Dead Space
49. 13.77% Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden
50. 13.07% Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
51. 12.05% Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories
52. 11.99% God of War: Chains of Olympus
53. 11.46% Spore
54. 09.88% Animal Crossing: City Folk
55. 09.87% Pure
56. 08.17% Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
57. 07.78% Mario Super Sluggers
58. 07.40% Guitar Hero: World Tour
59. 06.99% Madden NFL '09
60. 05.49% Gears of War 2
61. 04.99% Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice
62. 03.09% Tom Clancy's EndWar
63. 02.17% Wii Fit
64. 00.00% One Piece: Unlimited Adventure

Zero's Final Thoughts

2008's tournament would be my magnum opus for these yearly contests. The past three tournaments saw the first round be a bit of a struggle to receive votes, but all doubt was erased when only 6 of the 32 first round matches failed to break 20 votes total (and to be fair, 3 of those matches happened on the same day, with the fourth match in that 8-pack needing double overtime to decide a winner, so I'm pretty sure I was either at work or out with my girlfriend at the time and never got a chance to bump the topic). Round 2's vote totals were as low as 16 and as high as 27 (or 49 if you include OT). Round 3's match between LittleBigPlanet and Grand Theft Auto IV would be the last time any match received less than 20 votes, before things got completely nuts in the quarterfinals.

Seeding was mostly justified, with only a few upsets happening. #5 seed Boom Blox would be the only Game of the Month winner to go down in round one, courtesy of Devil May Cry 4. There were only 2 other double-digit seeds to win in round 1. First was the DS remake of Dragon Quest IV, which would nearly double #5 seed Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2; this was followed up by Disgaea 3, who proceeded to shit the bed against Gears of War 2, who then proceeded to get flattened by LittleBigPlanet, which barely lost to Grand Theft Auto IV, who then pegged the entire 8 pack of itself/LBP/Gears 2/Dead Space/Banjo 3/Disgaea 3/Animal Crossing/EndWar down big time in the X-Stats by losing 17-4 to Metal Gear Solid 4. Grand Theft Auto IV proved to be an undeserving #2 seed when it finished 38th in the X-Stats. Crazy part is, GTA4 was the only #2 seed to make the quarterfinals; round 3 saw Rock Band 2 lose to Mega Man 9, Chrono Trigger's DS port lose to Left 4 Dead, and Tales of Vesperia lose to Professor Layton and the Curious Village, all #3 seeds (and only Vesperia put up a fight out of all three). This says a lot about GTA4's disappointing performance, and it says even less about LittleBigPlanet which managed to lose to it.

While Metal Gear Solid 4 had a cake path to the final four (outscoring all 4 opponents 68-18), the other #1 seeds couldn't say the same. Fallout 3 kicked off the tournament proving it was deserving of it's top-seed by literally blasting some One Piece game no one played by a score of 26-0. TWENTY SIX to NOTHING. In the past, shutouts were usually just 4-0, 6-0, or even 8-0. After that match though, Fallout 3 never had a convincing victory again, beating Apollo Justice 16-11, Soulcalibur IV 15-13, and Professor Layton 18-16 on its way to the finals.

The World Ends With You wouldn't even get that far as a #1 seed, doing nothing more than getting 66% on both #16 and #9 seed titles Sonic Unleashed and Lost Odyssey. It's reward? 44% on Persona 4, becoming the first #1 seed out of the contest in round 3.

Then there was Super Smash Bros. Brawl, who defeated its first 3 opponents by 10 votes or more (18-4 Rune Factory 2, 18-8 Kirby Superstar Ultra, and 26-10 on No More Heroes). Little did anyone know how much of a pain Left 4 Dead was going to be, and the floodgates were open. Left 4 Dead was a huge deal on Board 8 when it first came out, so that combined with Vlado being Anti-Nintendo, Ulti being Anti-Brawl, and the majority of the board being pro-Nintendo led to the first of three great matches in the tournament. After 24 hours was up, Left 4 Dead and Brawl were TIED, forcing overtime. The next 24 hours pass, and Brawl escapes by the skin of its teeth with a final score of 61-56 to make it to the final four. It would then survive another match by beating Fallout 3 30-24 to advance to the championship. At this rate, was any game going to stop Brawl from winning Game of the Year?

Enter Persona 4.

Persona 4 was making waves of its own in the last division and was quickly rising to fan favorite status on Board 8. After pasting Mortal Kombat vs. DC and Devil May Cry 4, Persona then knocked off #1 seed TWEWY to get to the quarterfinals. There, it would defeat Mega Man 9 26-22 and prepare for a hotly debated battle between it and Metal Gear Solid 4. Metal Gear's always had a respectable fanbase on Board 8, so 4 making the semifinals was no fluke, as it possibly could have done the same from any of the other divisions. But two sets of fanbases came to play: the Persona fanboys, and those who thought a "movie" didn't deserve to be in the finals. Despite Solid Snake's best efforts, Metal Gear Solid 4 fell short with a score of 37-35 and Persona was on its way to the championship.

The finals would be just as hot, with four sets of fanboys voting here 1) Diehard Nintendo fans 2) Diehard Persona fans 3) Those who were annoyed by Persona 4 fans and voted Brawl out of spite 4) Those who didn't want Brawl to win a contest and voted Persona 4 out of spite

Don't let the score fool you, however. Despite it being close, Persona 4 never lost its lead as it became the first game to beat three #1 seeds on its way to the championship, ending its run with a 38-33 victory over Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

I finally got to fully play Persona 4 two years after it won this tournament. Originally, my favorite game in 2008 was Metal Gear Solid 4, but after playing P4, I joined the fanboys in praising it so much

(Just not enough to play the fighting and rhythm spinoffs)

In the end, the 2008 contest was the pinnacle of the GotY tournaments. Many of the tournaments have been able to rack up respectable amounts of votes ever since, but this one did it first. That and we'd never see a game with a target as big as the one Brawl had on itself possibly ever again.

And if anything else, seeing Penny Arcade Adventures rank higher than Grand Theft Auto IV on the X-Stats is hilarious. GTA4 deserves all the hate it gets.