Results[]
Friday, August 2nd, 2013
Ulti's Analysis[]
This was an amazing match for Board 8 on many levels. I got to see a piece of trash character from post-Wind Waker Zelda embarrass himself. DpObliVion got Lu Bu into a contest. And most importantly, GANON1025 got his huge Yoshimitsu victory and was man of the hour. This was a fairly hyped match due to ZeldaFEAR, but I'm pretty sure no one would have bothered picking Groose if he wasn't from that series. Lu Bu and Yoshimitsu being from unpopular games didn't help, either. But Zelda vs Dynasty Warriors and Soul Calibur was a thing, so he was the favorite by default.
There was a time early when it looked like any of the three characters could have won this, but then the 15 minute update hit and Yoshimitsu just took off. 10 minutes later, Lu Bu overtook Groose for second place and was never threatened. This could not have made me happier; if you're not a Board 8 regular, it's hard to really understand just how much I love pre-Wind Waker Zelda as a series, and just how much I despise Zelda and Nintendo for everything that's happened to both entities since.
So yeah, Groose losing like this was amazing. I'll spare the massive rant about Skyward Sword being trash, but the game's own designer being unable to play it properly at E3 is really everything that needs to be said about it. That, and the game having a stamina bar and forcing Wiimote control garbage at the player for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Trash game, trash character, and such a trash series now. I'll never understand how it happened.
Zen's (Late) Analysis[]
Theme for this post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xD1FAOJI84
I had been rallying for Yoshimitsu for three nomination periods and while I once got him into one of the vote-ins, I never had any success until the year I stopped rallying him and he mysteriously made it in. I like to think my years of petitioning helped somewhat.
That vote-in was the point of contention for this match. Yoshimitsu came in second-to-last against such jobbers as Dan Hibiki and Alex Mercer. Can you name what game Alex Mercer is from without Googling it? I can but I'm the big nerdo writing this so I have an excuse.
So naturally everyone assumed that Yoshimitsu was going to get stomped once the Groose was loose and the Lu Bu was... in... view?
I'm not sure where people thought Lu Bu was going to get the strength to beat Yoshimitsu from. He had a half-serious, half-"Hitler got in let's see if this guy can get in too" nomination rally. I know I had seen Lu Bu rallies in the past but they didn't get really serious until Allen decided to relax a little on what constitutes a video game character vs historical figure.
Most people had Groose > Lu Bu > Yoshimitsu, some had Yoshimitsu over Lu Bu, but almost everyone had Groose winning. Because Zelda.
The thing about Groose is that he is a Zelda but he is a bad Zelda.
Well, maybe not bad, but, y'know. Not great. Derivative. Polarizing. Nobody even talks about Skyward Sword anymore.
The match starts, Yoshimitsu takes off, Lu Bu follows behind, and Groose falls flat on his face. Can I remind you that the 8 seed was given to Groose because primarily Board 8ers nominated him? Being a Zelda meme that Board 8 finds kind of funny does not equate to any kind of contest strength, not even enough to beat freaking Yoshimitsu and Lu Bu.