The Great GameFAQs Character Battle IX

Introduction

It's been a long time. How have you been? I've been really busy being dead. You know, after you MURDERED ME?

GlaDOS, Portal 2

After a nearly three year hiatus, the Character Battle is back, bigger than ever, and ready to crown Link a new "Greatest Video Game Character Ever." With a gigantic bracket, three-way battles, full character bios, two different contests to enter, and $2000 in prizes, it could be our wildest battle yet.

This year, we've expanded the bracket to include 243 characters, who will be fighting in 121 three-way winner-take-all battles over the summer. The characters are grouped into 9 divisions of 27, and ranked by seeds based primarily on the number of nominations received from the users of GameFAQs. When the battles begin, the three characters in each battle will duke it out on the GameFAQs Poll of the Day, with only the character receiving the most votes moving on to the next round.

The Contests

My journey to become the ultimate fighter has only just begun.

Ryu, Street Fighter IV

The first contest, The Bracket Challenge, works just like any bracket picking contest for any major sports tournament - fill out your bracket, picking the winner of each battle. The later rounds are worth more points, so correctly guessing the final three battlers and who is crowned the champion is worth just as many points as picking the entire first round of 81 battles correctly.

The second contest, The Expert Challenge, will give you the chance to show just how well you know the voters of GameFAQs by picking the exact finish order of the three characters in each battle. Picking correctly earns points, but picking poorly loses points, so it might be in your best interests to take a day off if you're not sure who will win.

The Bracket Challenge is now closed, but you can enter the Expert Challenge at any time during the contest.

Hints and Tips

You know, I think it's finally time to tell you that little secret.

Handsome Jack, Borderlands 2

The Character Battle is one big Internet popularity contest. It's not about who is the strongest, most interesting, or most entertaining character, it's all about who gets the most votes.

Outside forces can and probably will attempt to rally people to visit the site and vote for a certain character, and that's fine - but individuals voting multiple times isn't acceptable. Hundreds of people voting once good, one person voting hundreds of times bad. We reserve the right to adjust vote totals should our automated efforts against vote stuffing fail.

voting multiple times isn't acceptable. Hundreds of people voting once good, one person voting hundreds of times bad. We reserve the right to adjust vote totals should our automated efforts against vote stuffing fail. Some characters were grouped together in certain seeds, but for the most part, the seeds are reflective of the number of nominations they received. However, the difference between, say, a 10 seed and a 15 seed is not that big - and nominations come from a much smaller group of people (registered users) than the actual voters (more unregistered than registered).

big - and nominations come from a much smaller group of people (registered users) than the actual voters (more unregistered than registered). Make sure you read the rules to understand the intricacies of the scoring of each challenge. The Expert Challenge is totally new this year, and not the same as the Battle Challenges of the last two years.

Thanks

My friends. They are my power!

Sora, Kingdom Hearts 3D

This contest would not have been possible without the combined efforts of the users of GameFAQs, and the GameFAQs Contests board in particular, whose tireless contributions and corrections have helped us to create what we hope is the best contest yet. We'd like to take the time here to say thank you to everybody who helped us out, no matter how big or how small - we hope you enjoy the battle!

Users who helped provide battler quotes and descriptions: _SecretSquirrel, abdou, Achromatic, ahirsch101, ArgaiRonso, Big_Bob, CasanovaZelos, charmander6000, cody11533, Dancedreamer, DaZettaiRyouiki, Denzokuken, DigitalIncision, DoctorJimmy133, ff6man, Flip_Aces, GANON1025, GenesisTwilight, homsar555, JeezyMiyagi, JeffZero, Justaways, JustForFun1988, KamikazePotato, Kenri, KokoroAkechi, Korayashi, LeonhartFour, LordOfDabu, methedemon, nintendogirl2, pjbasiss, Punnyz, Shoenin_Kakashi, SilentWanderer, StarStormScream, superange128, Takfloyd_mkII__, TeamRocketElite, Thunder_Armor, Ultima_X, Whiskey_Nick, WhiteLens, Xeybozn, XIII_rocks, Ytterbium_70, and ZenOfThunder.

View the Final Bracket or the Leaderboards.