We started with the characters exactly how they were in the first GameFAQs character battle, but a lot of our choices are quite different.
- The character with the most votes was Samus Aran, who I expect to go far. Just Monday I joked about how she wasn’t very relevant these days, and Nintendo went and announced the long-awaited Metroid Dread.
- The character with the most votes who still won was Crash Bandicoot, who was tied with Ulala. Sorry, Ulala, Crash was a childhood favorite.
- The character with the least votes was Ken Masters. He probably wasn’t actually the least popular character here; he just had the misfortune to be pitted against Samus.
- The character with the most votes to still lose was Ms. Pac-Man. While not especially relevant these days, her arcade game still holds up as an all-time classic.
Rounds where we differed from GameFAQs:
- We chose Abe (from Oddworld) over Kyo Kusanagi (from King of Fighters). To be honest, Kyo was a character I needed to look up, since I’m not a fighting game aficionado.
- We chose Dirk the Daring over Max Payne. Honestly, these are both characters that haven’t been relevant for a very long time. Also, Dragon’s Lair may be an impressive technical achievement but it’s an awful game.
- We chose Kirby over Jill Valentine. This is a case where both characters are still quite well-loved and you can make a case for either, although I, personally, have a strong preference for Kirby. Sorry, Jill.
- We chose Claire Redfield over Tidus. Tidus had an edge in the original battle by being the newest Final Fantasy protagonist, although personally I think Yuna would have been a stronger choice for the battle.
- We chose Mr. Driller over Serious Sam. Sam had a new game out just last year, but his popularity has faded since his heyday. Mr. Driller hasn’t had a new game since 2015, although there have been ports of older games.