Chorus' Favorite Game Bracket: Round 1 (Part 1 of 8) Video Game

you can find the bracket, general gist, rules, and how to participate here!

voting for round one of part one ended Saturday, April 25 at 11:59 PM EST!

for each round, to start, please just post your selections for each of the eight matchups in a list form for easy tabulation. example:

after that, state your cases for games you are particularly in favor of or particularly against!

the first round of matchups are as follows:

match 1:
Portal 2 [seed 1]
vs
Pokemon Black & White [128]

match 2:
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time [64]
vs
Super Smash Bros. Melee [65]

match 3:
Dragon Quest XI [32]
vs
Batman: Arkham Asylum [97]

match 4:
Fallout: New Vegas [33]
vs
Advance Wars [96]

match 5:
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [16]
vs
Timesplitters 2 [113]

match 6:
Silent Hill 2 [49]
vs
Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening [80]

match 7:
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 [17]
vs
Stardew Valley [112]

match 8:
Fire Emblem: Three Houses [48]
vs
Earthbound [81]

 

Pokemon Black/White
Super Smash Bros Melee
Dragon Quest XI
Advance Wars
Legend of Zelda OoT
n/a (never played either)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Fire Emblem Three Houses

some first round syndrome: i've never played (to any great extent) Portal 2, Prince of Persia, New Vegas, TImepslitters 2, or either of match 6.

Arkham Asylum influenced a lot of modern beat em up combat, for better or worse, but DQ XI is the perfection of a decades old formula and is an easy winner for me.

i love Stardew Valley but Tony Hawk 2 was one of the first 3D sequels to fully deliver. perfectly iterative in only tweaking mechanics a little and introducing a bunch of new secrets and set pieces.

Earthbound vs Three Houses is HARD. Three Houses wins because i played it in it's time where it shined, whereas, while i enjoyed Earthbound, i had to appreciate it's impact more than my minute-to-minute enjoyment of it.

 

also this is gonna be very interesting - i would not be surprised to see Pokemon Gen V win. having the number one seed lose in its first round match would be the shit i live for

 

Portal 2
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Fallout: New Vegas
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Silent Hill 2
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Earthbound

Didn’t feel like compiling a list for myself but excited to be voting along in this!

 

How should we vote if we haven’t played certain games before. Can we skip matches if we haven’t played the games or should we pick what sounds more fun to play?

 

Portal 2
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Dragon Quest XI
Fallout: New Vegas
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Silent Hill 2
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Earthbound

Portal 2 is clever and funny and genuinely one of the best puzzle games I’ve played.

spent so many hours in Melee with my friends. So wild of a concept at the time still and so much was added.

just finished DQ11 recently. It was a very traditional love letter to JRPGs of old and I had fun with it. Sylvando forever

New Vegas is the best fallout game hands down.

Ocarina is an absolute classic and I owe it a lot to my gaming tastes

Silent Hill 2 is so unsettling and one of the first true horror games I finished.

THPS 2 was another favorite to play with my friends. I miss skateboarding games

Earthbound is such an incredibly wonderful JRPG. Characters, the world, the story, it all just works so perfectly well and holds up to this day.

 

i personally skipped the one matchup between games i haven't played but its up to you!

 

Portal 2 (1) - Easy decision. Some of the best writing ever in a video game, some of the best performances ever in a video game, some of the best puzzle gameplay ever in a video game, one of the best co-op campaigns ever in a video game. I was surprised it was the first overall seed but it definitely is worthy of it.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (64) - I kind of bought this game on a whim back in the day and it wound up being one of the best games of its generation. It's a hugely influential game, had a better story than it had any right to possess, and spawned not only a group of great sequels but directly led to the creation of the AssCreed series.

Batman: Arkham Asylum (97) - The game that finally gave us the Batman experience we always wanted.

Fallout: New Vegas (33) - The best Fallout game, warts and all.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (16) - lol

Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening (80) - Perhaps the greatest franchise rebound in gaming history? Also this thing still holds the phuxck up.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (17) - So many childhood memories of this game. I enjoyed the first one but I didn't truly love this series until THPS2. I imagine a lot of people feel the same.

Earthbound (81) - Easily the hardest matchup of this round. Going with Earthbound because of its legacy and the fact that it has stood the test of time.

 

dude you gotta play DMC3

 

but that means i gotta play dmc 1 and 2

i know this isn't an actual rule but its a big me rule

 

is timesplitters 2 the first console shooter to feature a map editor?

 

Literally the exact opposite of my thoughts haha.

Portal 2
Prince of Persia
Arkham Asylum
Fallout NV
TimeSplitters 2
Silent Hill 2
Tony Hawk
Earthbound

 

DMC1 is solid but 2 is putrid. Also 3 is a prequel so technically you can play it first.

 

Portal 2
Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Fallout: Las Vegas
The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
Silent Hill 2
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Fire Emblem: Three Houses

- Match 2: Never was a huge fan of the Super Smash games as much as most, and any video games with time travel is a win with me.
- Match 4: Never played Advance Wars but after seeing some gameplay I have to assume its not as gripping as Fallout.
- Match 5: Ocarina Of Time is like pretty much my favorite game of all time so this was the easiest choice
- Match 6: I haven't played either and they both sound equally as good, but if I was forced I'd go with Silent Hill 2.
- Match 7: Another easy choice, I enjoy Tony Hawk much more.
- Match 8: Also haven't played either but Fire Emblem just looks much better?

 

Generally with these brackets you have to make a choice for every matchup

 

Eh alright, I edited my post.

 

is there a reason tho? honestly asking as i havent fucked w brackets much.. in the matter of DMC3 v SH2 i literally know nothing of either, so wouldn't voting just kinda sway the data unfairly.

 

idk that’s always the rule in any bracket I’ve participated in, if you don’t make a choice for every matchup none of your votes count

 

hhmmm unless i hear a good argument against it, im not rollin like that. would hate to sway an actual close race between games because i flipped a coin on something.

 

Good choice.

 

I'm just trying to get more votes for DMC3 tbh

 

Haha your plan failed I voted for Silent Hill 2 over DMC3 instead of staying impartial anyways

 

Pokemon Black & White [128]
Super Smash Bros. Melee [65]
Batman: Arkham Asylum [97]
Fallout: New Vegas [33]
Timesplitters 2 [113]
Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening [80]
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 [17]
Fire Emblem: Three Houses [48]

 

Do I have to pick one for all matchups? I haven’t always played them properly or at all.

 

I feel bad, I've only played seven of those games. Should I abstain from voting on a matchup if I haven't played either game?