Winter 2010 Contest

The **2010 Character Battle** was highlighted by Charizard's incredible run

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**Winter 2010 Contest**
Announced:	November 6, 2009
Started:	January 15, 2010
Ended:	March 21, 2010
Winner:	Winner: Link Runner-up: Cloud
Contest Winner:	Dr Football - 429 points
Notable matches:	Red vs Ocelot, Crono vs Missingno, Ryu vs Dante, Charizard vs L-Block, Sephiroth vs Missingno, Samus vs Cloud Strife, Solid Snake vs Sephiroth

Winter 2010 Contest was the eighth GameFAQs character tournament held on GameFAQs. It's more commonly referred to as Character Battle 8 (CB8 for short), since "2010" is slightly confusing (nominations and bracket creation actually took place in 2009, but the opening matchup didn't happen until after the new year).

Ulti's Pre-Contest Analysis[]

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3691 – The Missingno poll. He won this thing going away, at the expense of fellow Pokemon Mudkip and Jigglypuff. No one knew at the time how many characters would make the main field from here, but obviously it would end up being Axel, Lightning and The Boss. Lightning was the cutoff line, edging Scorpion by 300 votes. The whining about Missingno during this poll was amazing, and it was great foreshadowing for the main contest. The lesser characters here were interesting enough, I guess. The Boss and Raiden seem independent of one another, Toad looks like he has a decent fanbase thanks to NSMB Wii, and Alex Mercer was the casual bait representative. The main thing here is Dan Hikibi and Yoshimitsu sucking it up. Can we stop the rally pushes for these two in every NRT?

Fun Tidbit: http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/3091/mnvotein2.jpg

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3692 – This poll had a very clear cutoff point in it. Frog, Rikku, Liquid Snake, Midna and Big Daddy were a cut above everyone else. Even though we didn’t yet know what Bacon’s cutoff line was in these vote-ins, those 5 coming from this poll seemed easy enough. Big Daddy was especially impressive, given he had Andrew Ryan sharing the poll as an albatross. Of all the losers here, very little stands out. It’s hard to believe Diddy and Olimar have made the field in the past, and Archer doing well for a little while made for some great fads for a day. If this match had a picture, Archer probably would have won! He looks just like Dante.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3693 – Another poll where a clear cutoff line exists between haves and have-nots. Jecht, Sub-Zero, Spy, Proto Man and Ridley all did well. But by this point, people (namely Mega Man fans) were very worried about how many characters from each poll would actually get chosen. Proto Man finished close to Ridley for fourth place, but the number 4 is a much more mathematical number when talking about brackets. Past the top five, there was a jumbled mess of low fodder and true fodder. Bayonetta, Kain Highwind, Etna, Lara Croft and Sho all did about the same. Bayonetta suffered from bad timing, since her game came out just after the bracket was made. At the bottom, Bub failed to catch any momentum at all from the Gamespot contest and Doc Louis actually made the vote-in after HaRRicH’s year-long joke rally. T E A M C H O C O L A T E

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3694 – Probably the strongest group of any vote-in. Cid and Aeris from FF7 both did very well, and almost LFFd each other out of first and second place. Tails finished just behind Cid after leading him most of the day, and Simon Belmont finished very close to Tails. There’s a gap after this before you get to Prince of Persia, which ended up being the cutoff line for the poll. Morrigan, Chun-Li and Little Mac all finished relatively close to making the main field, and even Godot did fairly well here. Sol Badguy even making the vote-in was a shock for Guilty Gear fans, and past him is the fodder. Maxwell is from an overhyped disaster, and no one likes Emil.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3695 – One day later, we probably got the weakest group of all the vote-ins. This was the only vote-in where 4 characters were taken instead of 5, and for good reason. Mega Man X obviously dominated this poll, and HK-47 and Vault Boy also did well. Past them, everyone either sucked or got caught up in the weak Nintendo character LFF mess. Falco ended up winning that king of the hill fight over Lucas, Wario and Spyro (I know Spyro isn’t technically Nintendo, but he has the same type of appeal). Beyond them, tons of fodder not worth mentioning.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3696 – The last vote-in conveniently had a clear cutoff point. Akuma and Meta Knight rolled this thing, and tier 2 was clearly Marth, Peach and Thrall. Tier 3 would have been Isaac Clarke, KOS-MOS and Kerrigan, but they didn’t make the field. You could probably even make a Tier 4 given everyone left over did pretty well. Personally, I like considering these vote-ins a part of the contest itself so we can keep alive the trivia point of CATS making every character field.

When the dust settled and Bacon finally announced the bracket, characters and rules, the final result was amazing. 128 characters, 8 divisions of 16 in an NCAA style format, and 12 hour 1v1s until the final four. Personally, this is the best possible format we could have asked for, because everyone gets their own way. The 1v1 fans get their 1v1s, the random chaos fans get potential hilarious bandwagons from the matches being so short, Bacon gets his 128 entrants, and everyone collectively got to laugh at the crying 4way fans for enjoying their terrible format so much. With any luck, this contest symbolized the permanent death of that god-awful format. They are a bad gimmick, nothing more.

Ulti's Post-Contest Analysis[]

Personally, this contest ranks #4 for me. People look forward to my annual ranking for whatever reason, and here it is:

Spring 2004 > Summer 2002 > Summer 2003 > Winter 2010 > Summer 2005 > Fall 2009 > Summer 2007 > Summer 2006 > Spring 2006 > Summer 2008 > Summer 2004 > Spring 2005

The only thing Winter 2010 is missing are photo finishes, but those are extremely rare and we can't expect them all the time. But this contest had everything else we like; unpredictability, great matches, good runs by characters we didn't expect, great matches, unexpected matches, the works.

And most important, 1v1s ARE BACK BABY THANK CHRIST. Given all we know about stats and trends, 1v1s under this new format is the best thing we would have ever asked for. Now all we need is removal of Link, this format for a games contest with no generations and slightly better bracket placement. From there, we're gold.

Last but not least...

The Ultimate Loser!™ = Geno!

Link > Cloud > Snake > Sephiroth > Tifa > Big Daddy > Ness > Geno

Poor guy.

2010 Contest - Useful Articles[]

Coming after the conclusion of the Contest[]

2010 Contest Matches - detailed write-ups on every '10 Contest poll
Most Surprising Results of 2010
Most Impressive Performances of 2010
Winter 2010 Match Trends

Tournament Bracket[]

Click on the date above each match to see its article page.

Division Rounds[]

	Division R1 (Top 128)			Division R2 (Top 64)			Division Semis (Top 32)			Division Final (Sweet 16)
Hyrule Division
_{Jan 16 - 60599}
1	Link	48,367
16	Thrall	12,232	_{Feb 17 - 59971}
_{Jan 16 - 65187}			1	Link	43,055
8	Alucard	38,150	8	Alucard	16,916
9	Magus	27,037				_{Mar 05 - 54681}
_{Jan 17 - 58208}						1	Link	36,790
5	PKMN Trainer Red	29,195	_{Feb 17 - 77712}			13	X	17,891
12	Revolver Ocelot	29,013	5	Red	30,180
_{Jan 17 - 81068}			13	X	47,532
4	Captain Price	27,792
13	Mega Man X	53,276								_{Mar 13 - 57731}
_{Jan 18 - 55360}									1	Link	41,062
3	Luigi	36,374							3	Luigi	16,669
14	Meta Knight	18,986	_{Feb 18 - 52062}
_{Jan 18 - 79846}			3	Luigi	31,026
6	Amaterasu	41,994	6	Ammy	21,036	_{Mar 05 - 74973}
11	Shadow the Hedgehog	37,852				3	Luigi	48,613
_{Jan 19 - 49202}						7	Cube	26,360
7	W. C. Cube	38,427	_{Feb 18 - 74598}
10	Sandal Feddic	10,775	7	Cube	40,132
_{Jan 19 - 33295}			15	The Boss	34,466
2	Nathan Drake	33,295
15	The Boss	36,615

Chaos Division
_{Jan 20 - 53494}
1	Sonic the Hedgehog	34,159
16	Lightning	19,335	_{Feb 19 - 52753}
_{Jan 20 - 71995}			1	Sonic	35,668
8	Cecil Harvey	34,558	9	Knuckles	17,085
9	Knuckles the Echidna	37,437				_{Mar 06 - 52298}
_{Jan 21 - 52248}						1	Sonic	29,904
5	Ganon	30,642	_{Feb 19 - 70160}			5	Ganon	22,394
12	Mewtwo	21,606	5	Ganon	44,784
_{Jan 21 - 72497}			13	Ken	25,376
4	Albert Wesker	36,013
13	Ken Masters	36,484								_{Mar 13 - 72469}
_{Jan 22 - 53126}									1	Sonic	39,575
3	Kirby	30,566							3	Kirby	32,894
14	Rikku	22,560	_{Feb 20 - 48660}
_{Jan 22 - 58971}			3	Kirby	33,283
6	GLaDOS	39,381	6	GLaDOS	15,377	_{Mar 06 - 70066}
11	Fawful	19,590				3	Kirby	40,381
_{Jan 23 - 53492}						7	Vivi	29,685
7	Vivi Ornitier	30,113	_{Feb 20 - 74515}
10	Donkey Kong	23,379	7	Vivi	41,571
_{Jan 23 - 76041}			2	Altair	32,944
2	Altair Ibn-LaʼAhad	44,955
15	Liquid Snake	31,086

Mushroom Division
_{Jan 24 - 54944}
1	Mario	44,525
16	Falco Lombardi	10,419	_{Feb 21 - 57211}
_{Jan 24 - 74661}			1	Mario	36,136
8	Big Boss	56,904	8	Big Boss	21,075
9	Miles Edgeworth	17,757				_{Mar 07 - 51821}
_{Jan 25 - 50552}						1	Mario	38,401
5	Zidane Tribal	32,534	_{Feb 21 - 72135}			4	Ike	13,420
12	Claptrap	18,018	5	Zidane	34,953
_{Jan 25 - 73321}			4	Ike	37,182
4	Ike	45,820
13	Prinny	27,501								_{Mar 14 - 50164}
_{Jan 26 - 51979}									1	Mario	29,285
3	Mega Man	32,766							3	Mega	20,879
14	Cid Highwind	19,213	_{Feb 22 - 52391}
_{Jan 26 - 73599}			3	Mega	32,305
6	Zack Fair	43,134	6	Zack	20,086	_{Mar 07 - 70112}
11	Yuna	30,465				3	Mega	50,583
_{Jan 27 - 46209}						7	Ryu H.	19,529
7	Ryu Hayabusa	28,553	_{Feb 22 - 75466}
10	Crash Bandicoot	17,656	7	Ryu H.	39,666
_{Jan 27 - 78003}			2	Chief	35,800
2	Master Chief	46,974
15	Spy	31,029

Heart Division
_{Jan 28 - 50852}
1	Sora	32,359
16	Midna	18,493	_{Feb 23 - 47008}
_{Jan 28 - 55285}			1	Sora	31,848
8	Laharl	31,134	8	Laharl	15,160
9	Neku Sakuraba	24,151				_{Mar 08 - 51860}
_{Jan 29 - 47495}						1	Sora	23,493
5	Kefka Palazzo	28,769	_{Feb 23 - 77153}			4	Bowser	28,367
12	Arthas Menethil	18,726	5	Kefka	29,563
_{Jan 29 - 70310}			4	Bowser	47,590
4	Bowser	44,449
13	Frog	25,861								_{Mar 14 - 83524}
_{Jan 30 - 52093}									4	Bowser	37,813
3	L-Block	33,283							7	Charizard	45,711
14	HK-47	18,810	_{Feb 24 - 50627}
_{Jan 30 - 60871}			3	L-Block	30,620
6	Isaac (Golden Sun)	41,871	6	Isaac	20,007	_{Mar 08 - 81553}
11	Professor Layton	19,000				3	L-Block	32,097
_{Jan 31 - 56465}						7	Charizard	49,456
7	Charizard	36,281	_{Feb 24 - 82168}
10	Duke Nukem	20,184	7	Charizard	44,776
_{Jan 31 - 77724}			2	Kratos	37,392
2	Kratos	47,398
15	Miles "Tails" Prower	30,326

Varia Division
_{Feb 01 - 50755}
1	Samus Aran	39,941
16	Prince of Persia	10,814	_{Feb 25 - 51877}
_{Feb 01 - 75369}			1	Samus	35,025
8	Niko Bellic	24,713	9	Jill	16,852
9	Jill Valentine	50,656				_{Mar 09 - 50605}
_{Feb 02 - 54437}						1	Samus	34,062
5	Roxas	31,010	_{Feb 25 - 77158}			13	Sub-Zero	16,543
12	Heavy	23,427	5	Roxas	31,587
_{Feb 02 - 77410}			13	Sub-Zero	45,571
4	Tidus	35,717
13	Sub-Zero	41,693								_{Mar 15 - 50578}
_{Feb 03 - 49879}									1	Samus	32,292
3	Phoenix Wright	23,592							10	Zelda	18,286
14	Jecht	26,287	_{Feb 26 - 46572}
_{Feb 03 - 61507}			14	Jecht	26,156
6	Ratchet	42,066	6	Ratchet	20,416	_{Mar 09 - 74868}
11	Eddie Riggs	19,441				14	Jecht	30,156
_{Feb 04 - 48896}						10	Zelda	44,712
7	Travis Touchdown	14,340	_{Feb 26 - 76798}
10	Princess Zelda	34,556	10	Zelda	47,699
_{Feb 04 - 70538}			2	Ezio	29,099
2	Ezio	42,115
15	Simon Belmont	28,423

Midgar Division
_{Feb 05 - 55398}
1	Cloud Strife	39,732
16	Ridley	15,666	_{Feb 27 - 56563}
_{Feb 05 - 63025}			1	Cloud	40,719
8	Chris Redfield	42,865	8	Chris	15,844
9	Captain MacMillan	20,160				_{Mar 10 - 53879}
_{Feb 06 - 48,172}						1	Cloud	37,679
5	Riku	30,017	_{Feb 27 - 69318}			4	Falcon	16,200
12	Ramza Beoulve	18,155	5	Riku	32,940
_{Feb 06 - 66028}			4	Falcon	36,378
4	Captain Falcon	46,968
13	Wander	19,060								_{Mar 15 - 82222}
_{Feb 07 - 55924}									1	Cloud	54,253
3	Leon S. Kennedy	34,007							7	Ryu	27,969
14	Vault Boy	21,917	_{Feb 28 - 51145}
_{Feb 07 - 71165}			3	Leon	33,147
6	Sackboy	38,845	6	Sackboy	17,998	_{Mar 10 - 67512}
11	Kratos Aurion	32,320				3	Leon	29,110
_{Feb 08 - 51297}						7	Ryu	38,402
7	Ryu	35,377	_{Feb 28 - 74809}
10	Balthier	15,920	7	Ryu	37,670
_{Feb 08 - 71779}			2	Dante	37,139
2	Dante	49,791
15	Axel	21,988

Gear Division
_{Feb 09 - 51803}
1	Solid Snake	37,482
16	Proto Man	14,321	_{Mar 01 - 50294}
_{Feb 09 - 67654}			1	Snake	33,713
8	Lloyd Irving	22,154	9	Fox	16,581
9	Fox McCloud	45,500				_{Mar 11 - 51348}
_{Feb 10 - 49808}						1	Snake	28,345
5	Pikachu	37,403	_{Mar 01 - 80790}			5	Pikachu	23,003
12	Banjo	12,405	5	Pikachu	49,287
_{Feb 10 - 66039}			4	Shepard	31,503
4	Commander Shepard	50,052
13	Ellis	15,987								_{Mar 16 - 55448}
_{Feb 11 - 51628}									1	Snake	32,810
3	Auron	29,758							2	Squall	22,638
14	Aerith Gainsborough	21,870	_{Mar 02 - 49697}
_{Feb 11 - 69053}			3	Auron	28,173
6	Zero	46,381	6	Zero	21,524	_{Mar 11 - 67170}
11	Marcus Fenix	22,672				3	Auron	32,370
_{Feb 12 - 51259}						2	Squall	34,800
7	Revan	23,647	_{Mar 02 - 70631}
10	Terra Branford	27,612	10	Terra	25,063
_{Feb 12 - 69949}			2	Squall	45,568
2	Squall Leonhart	47,575
15	Akuma	22,374

Jenova Division
_{Feb 13 - 54730}
1	Sephiroth	39,295
16	Marth	15,435	_{Mar 03 - 48968}
_{Feb 13 - 66761}			1	Seph	30,682
8	Vincent Valentine	51,698	8	Vincent	18,286
9	Guybrush Threepwood	15,063				_{Mar 12 - 66731}
_{Feb 14 - 48501}						1	Seph	35,286
5	Yoshi	37,163	_{Mar 03 - 77696}			13	M-No.	31,445
12	Jak	11,338	5	Yoshi	37,674
_{Feb 14 - 91081}			13	M-No.	40,022
4	Crono	45,277
13	MissingNo.	45,804								_{Mar 16 - 80421}
_{Feb 15 - 55350}									1	Seph	45,168
3	Soap MacTavish	21,174							10	Tifa	35,253
14	Big Daddy	34,176	_{Mar 04 - 47439}
_{Feb 15 - 67191}			14	B.Daddy	25,790
6	Ness	43,544	6	Ness	21,649	_{Mar 12 - 72224}
11	Geno	23,647				14	B.Daddy	28,562
_{Feb 16 - 52957}						10	Tifa	43,662
7	Yuri Lowell	11,278	_{Mar 04 - 77473}
10	Tifa Lockhart	41,679	10	Tifa	48,006
_{Feb 16 - 77719}			2	Gordon	29,467
2	Gordon Freeman	41,389
15	Princess Peach	36,330

Elite Eight[]

Character Battle VIII Finals
	Quarter-finals			Semi-finals			Final
_{Mar 17 - 53759}
A	Link	37,755
B	Sonic the Hedgehog	16,004	_{Mar 19 - 104462}
_{Mar 17 - 77348}			A	Link	67,456
C	Mario	41,452	C	Mario	37,006	_{Mar 21 - 129018}
D	Charizard	35,896				A	Link	69,074
_{Mar 18 - 59334}						F	Cloud Strife	59,944
E	Samus Aran	27,999	_{Mar 20 - 125736}
F	Cloud Strife	31,335	F	Cloud Strife	65,496
_{Mar 18 - 86776}			G	Solid Snake	60,240
G	Solid Snake	45,954
H	Sephiroth	40,822

Trivia[]

Dr. Football won the first place prize because Heroic Palmer accidentally filled out a "just-for-fun" entry
This is the first Character Battle not involving CATS, unless you count vote-ins
This was the first 1v1 contest to take place in 4 years
The Noble Nine's historic winning streak was shattered by Missingno, and Snake ended an eight year 1v1 winning streak for Clinkeroth

2010 Contest Matches
Round One Link > Thrall Alucard > Magus Red > Ocelot X > Price Luigi > Meta Knight Amaterasu > Shadow Cube > Sandal The Boss > Drake Sonic > Lightning Knuckles > Cecil Ganondorf > Mewtwo Ken > Wesker Kirby > Rikku GLaDOS > Fawful Vivi > DK Altair > Liquid Mario > Falco Big Boss > Edgeworth Zidane > Claptrap Ike > Prinny Mega Man > Cid H Zack > Yuna Ryu H > Crash Master Chief > Spy Sora > Midna Laharl > Neku Kefka > Arthas Bowser > Frog L-Block > HK-47 Isaac > Layton Charizard > Duke	Kratos > Tails Samus > PoP Jill > Niko Roxas > Heavy Sub-Zero > Tidus Jecht > Phoenix Wright Ratchet > Eddie Zelda > Travis Ezio > Simon Cloud > Ridley Chris > MacMillan Riku > Ramza Falcon > Wander Leon > Vault Boy Sackboy > Kratos A Ryu > Balthier Dante > Axel Snake > Proto Man Fox > Lloyd Pikachu > Banjo Shepard > Ellis Auron > Aeris Zero > Marcus Terra > Revan Squall > Akuma Sephiroth > Marth Vincent > Guybrush Yoshi > Jak Missingno > Crono Big Daddy > Soap Ness > Geno Tifa > Yuri Gordon > Peach	Round Two Link > Alucard X > Red Luigi > Amaterasu Cube > The Boss Sonic > Knuckles Ganondorf > Ken Kirby > GLaDOS Vivi > Altair Mario > Big Boss Ike > Zidane Mega Man > Zack Ryu H > Master Chief Sora > Laharl Bowser > Kefka L-Block > Isaac Charizard > Kratos Samus > Jill Sub-Zero > Roxas Jecht > Ratchet Zelda > Ezio Cloud > Chris Falcon > Riku Leon > Sackboy Ryu > Dante Snake > Fox Pikachu > Shepard Auron > Zero Squall > Terra Sephiroth > Vincent Missingno > Yoshi Big Daddy > Ness Tifa > Gordon	R3 and following Link > X Luigi > Cube Sonic > Ganondorf Kirby > Vivi Mario > Ike Mega Man > Ryu H Bowser > Sora Charizard > L-Block Samus > Sub-Zero Zelda > Jecht Cloud > Falcon Ryu > Leon Snake > Pikachu Squall > Auron Sephiroth > Missingno Tifa > Big Daddy Link > Luigi Sonic > Kirby Mario > Mega Man Charizard > Bowser Samus > Zelda Cloud > Ryu Snake > Squall Sephiroth > Tifa Link > Sonic Mario > Charizard Cloud > Samus Snake > Sephiroth Link > Mario Cloud > Snake Link > Cloud