Results[]
Ulti's Analysis[]
| Division | Hyrule Division |
|---|---|
| Match # | 33 |
| Match Date | Friday, September 3rd, 2004 |
| Vote difference | 66,655 |
| Oracle Expectations |
Link - 71.16% 60 for - 0 against |
| GameFAQs Prediction |
Link - 96.07% (31,915 brackets) |
As if Ganondorf didn't have enough problems going into this match. Take a quick look at that match picture. For the first time ever, we saw Link getting his fresh new look in a match picture, and if it wasn't clear that Ganondorf was going to get destroyed in this match before that picture was posted, the bell was certainly tolling afterwards.
But none of this could have possibly prepared Ganon for the beating that he was going to take come match time. From the start of the poll until the closing bell, Link ripped into Ganondorf like a man possessed. It was so bad for Ganondorf that it took him until near the end of the poll just to break 10,000 votes, and in the unadjusted Xsts, CATS is above him. The biggest case of SFF that we had ever seen in a character contest before this match was Mario vs Donkey Kong back in 2002. We thought at the time that it would be the worst SFF beating ever, but this match simply took it farther than we had ever thought possible. Ganondorf went from a character on the brink of defeating Magus to someone beaten down by his Zelda counterpart so badly that the likes of CATS would be projected to do better than him. In fact, CATS did do better against Link than Ganondorf. CATS managed 12.17% of the vote to Ganondorf's measly 12.1%.
You know what's really funny? Link vs Ganondorf was the match that every Zelda fan wanted to see in 2003, because it would be "exciting to watch". Link came out in this match to prove that he was championship material, and there was no part of this match in which he looked like anything but championship material. You need flawless performances to prove yourself worthy of the contest crown, and if anyone doubted Link's power after this slaughter, then they were crazy. The only possible way that Link couldn't be crowned the champion right here and now is if Cloud managed to equally surprise everyone during his matches. The entire contest was a game of "Can you top this?" between Link and Cloud, but with Link always being the one to set the bar higher.
Oh, and one last thing. I doubt that we will ever see a bigger example of fanbase leeching than Ganondorf. He does very well on his own, but this is with Link out of the equation. When Link is there, well.... you can see what happens for yourself.
Match Trends[]
Ed Bellis' Analysis[]
Normally SFF matches are pointless bore-fests that are pretty much the opposite of entertaining, but this match remains the exception. Ganondorf, the potential Noble Nine breaker himself, is put against the flagship of the series from which he draws all of his strength. The result? Link beats him worse than CATS. Let me repeat that: Link beat Ganondorf worse than CATS. My god. When SFF gets this bad it stops being a wasted match and starts turning into comedy gold.