you sanic nerds are gonna kill FFT aren’t you
Instead of giving my personal opinions here I am instead going to explain why these matchups are interesting:
The Mask vs The Orginal
Majora’s Mask is basically OoT Second Quest. It is filled with events and little dragon quest style emotion. A lot of it is how do we reuse these elements. LoZ is so minimalist except it does in fact have a second quest you are so likely to fall into if you make a reasonable mistake implying from the title. Do you meet with a terrible fate or it’s dangerous to go outside with out this.
Little Blobs vs excitable men
Puyo is all about preparation. It is about arranging blobs in an eldritch pattern that will hopefully execute before complications arrive.
Ouendan is swiping and tapping to covers. It might introduce you to music you like. It might even make you go “I prefer the cover, honestly.” You wish someone would inspire you in the same way.
3rdnd Striketh versus Animal Village
I have seen friends cry at being able to play Third Strike versus in Hey. Will Hey exist I don’t know.
I have seen Lady Rude play Animal Crossing for months so that Neo Rude doesn’t drive her insane. She turned to me today about it being Halloween in Animal Crossing.
Dota two vesus Dokutsu Monogatari
Yeah if Cave Story is so good why didn’t it get a sequel?
Shiren versus Klonoa
Baby I don’t want Shiren or Klonoa!
Silent Hill 2 versus Sonic Mania
An unapproachable horror classic at this point versus a nostalgia fan-fest done right.
Ikaruga verus Yume Nikki
These two have caused the most argument in this bracketing and my vote is my own.
Six versus 64
A game in which the world ends and you gather your friends for one last job versus a game where you gather your friends to punch each other again and again.
Port versus You
A perfect video game ride versus a perfect video game sokoban
BIG THE CAT IS BEAUTIFUL AND GOOD. Tactics games can go get played by Felix.
I am tired over here sorry this post didn’t work out like I expected.
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Elimination time.
SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI III: NOCTURNE HAS DEMONS
CAVE STORY IS NOT TOXIC
SILENT HILL 2 IS NOT SONIC
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS IS NOT SONIC
IKARUGA IS A GOOD GAME I HAVE PLAYED
FINAL FANTASY VI’S FINAL MEDLEY SOUNDS LIKE AN INCREDIBLE ACHIEVEMENT
MYSTERY DUNGEON: SHIREN THE WANDERER (1995) vs. KLONOA: DOOR TO PHANTOMILE
Haven't played either so time for the boxart test again
Ferret wins
EBA! EBA!
PORTAL vs. BABA IS YOU
Going with Portal here since I am now wondering if Sokoban is a genre I really like or not. I like sliding block puzzles, but I think there’s a point of complexity at which they become reverse engineering tedious blueprints on paper rather than actually interacting with a videogame. I’m all for pen and paper play with videogames but I feel like Sokoban is so pure that these extreme versions of this genre are nothing but that. I actually thought Stephen’s Sausage Roll was a better Sokoban since it felt more straightforwardly challenging and required a more radical rewiring of how you think about your movement. Baba is You promises crazy grammatical possibilities but after the first hour or two this promise is replaced by aforementioned tedious blueprinting. That said I really enjoyed The Witness and I’m not sure what the difference is, maybe being able to explore a world as part of puzzle-solving?
Portal is not a perfect puzzle game but I think it’s far better executed and paced than Baba is You. It has a substance to it I could sink my imaginative teeth into. Baba is You is very cute but I don’t really have a fondness for it beyond that. Portal has these little character moments which I have a soft spot for and the game has a uniquely frosty atmosphere that Valve are[were?] really good at nailing.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA’S MASK vs. THE LEGEND OF ZELDA
This was an inevitability with so many Zeldas and it’s a shame these are the first to the loser’s bracket since BOTW is a sequel to the original and MM is similarly spiritually linked to LA via its surreal other world. This particular matchup is arguably the most interesting 3D experiment VS the original 2D template. I know MM gets crapped on for its dungeons and time limit but I feel that the NPC schedules and different mask forms compare favourably to LoZ’s generally samey dungeons. LoZ manages an impressive amount with its limited means though and is an excellent game to play with a friend and no internet. Pen and paper enhance things here. I think this is gonna come down to the last minute.
STREET FIGHTER III THIRD STRIKE: FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE vs. ANIMAL CROSSING
One thing I’ll say for SF3 beyond it being one of the better fighting games and having extremely solid core mechanics is there are few games with a stronger sense of stylistic unity. The announcer, the music, the coiling animation, the rawness of the hitstun and sound design all come together to fit that popular thematic blend of hiphop and martial arts. The quality of the game’s simplicity, I think, is very easy to overlook.
These animations alone confirm SF5’s status as weak shit. You can practically feel their exact weight.
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elevator action returns is great but nocturne is the greatest
growing up in megadrive country i played like several thousand hours of sonic 1-3&k and still not really hype on mania, it’s definitely more even and consistent than the megadrive games but i’d sooner just bomb through 2 for the millionth time
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Consigning either Majora’s Mask or LoZ to elimination feels pretty bleh. I think I like the doom vibes of MM too much.
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Elevator Action Returns Vs SMT3
Returns rules, but I might love plain old Elevator Action even more. The local barcade has (had? it’s been a long time…) it and it was always a highlight of going there. It’s been one of my go to emulated games for years too.
I haven’t played as much SMT3 as I should have but it’s pretty cool and very pretty.
Zelda 1 Vs Majora’s Mask
Zelda 1 is the greatest game of all time.
Mean Bean Machine Vs Elite Beat
Elite Beat has the weirdo edge.
Third Strike Vs Animal Crossing
Third Strike isn’t my favorite Street Fighter, but this is the last 2d fighter left standing, right?
Cave Story Vs DOTA
Cave Story was such a landmark. DOTA is just Team Fortress happening again.
Shiren Vs Klonoa
I guess Shiren. Maybe I’m wrong here. I guess I’d just rather play Nethack or Tomba.
Silent Hill 2 Vs Sonic Mania
Sonic Sucks, Silent Hill 2 is amazing.
Ikuraga Vs Yume Nikki the Radical Ninja
I still don’t know what this Yume game is.
Final Fantasy 3 Vs Virtual Pro
With all the noise I made in the nominations, I gotta back AKI. Cecil and Kane are still cooler than Tera and Locke anyway.
Portal Vs Baba is You
I still say Baba is You is some stealth STEM education over all else bullshit.
FFT Vs DC Sonic
FFT is the best Playstation installment. Sonic sucks.
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Sabin would rather be in an N64 AKI wrestling game than his own.
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If Majora’s Mask loses to first Zelda, then nothing has a meaning anymore.
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I’ve been watching a ton of Z1 randomizer races, and its post-doom vibes have really gotten me. A heroic quest to save, like, a dozen people living alone in caves? LoZ: Decision 2024
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I hadn’t thought of it this way. I do quite like the doomy sparseness of the original. The series eventually became quite town and NPC-centric and it’s worth remembering these strange cave people.
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Zelda 1, Quake 1, and Street Fighter 2 are all deeply part of my love of video games, and this contest keeps doing awful things to me.
I’m glad no one else gives a shit about Castlevania 2 or this would be a total mess.
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It’s also wild actually posting about video games on this board for the first time in years.
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Now you know this ain’t true. Don’t do me like that, Soup.
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I know you know what’s up!
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Also, the dungeons look kind of futuristic to me. I think Arne sums it up pretty well in his game thoughts
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This is excellent! If MM overtakes LoZ I think I’ll lend it a switched vote. I think this is the real value of popularity contests, being able to share these thoughts and feelings about why these titles are here.
I didn’t really play LoZ anywhere close to when it came out but was extremely impressed at how it held up as a game to play in like 2014(ish). Especially if you’re just trying to keep track of shit without the internet. Having to form mental lists of places to look and go once you’d figured stuff out was good but the storage of these lists mentally also meant that you’re placing so much else in the imagination yet to be explored. The game feels much bigger than it’s constituent parts boil down to and I don’t just mean in terms of space.
Arne’s art work in that post really highlights how much imaginative space there was in games where the concept art is just bounds ahead of what could be technically delivered at the time. However, we each interpret it differently and I think original LoZ’s nooks and crannies design encourages that actively.
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I love Baba because of how elemental its interactions are and what a goldmine of ideas it is. Its core verb feels more like general change than pushing or even moving. “Being” is more continuity of control than whatever metaphor is presented onscreen.
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why are so wrong about sonic select button?
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I love Sonic but I guess this is the morning that I kill my childhood idk. I should mess around in Mania today just to remember who I am. I should be grateful that He has triumphed over the MCU.
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i have and will vote for the good sonics
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