...and I feel fine. Let it rain, rain, Ra~i~ain.
Really, I think that song is always a suitable response to anyone using the widely adopted Manga-styled '...'.
Month + 1 day of delay. Not really horrible given my track record, but I claim my weeks vacation to Florida to play a role in the timer-differential.
I'm starting to think that I'd really like a WordPress support for this, just because I'm finding Blogger's system to be a bit more trudging and sluggish, though a fair deal of that is probably that I access it only via less-than-stellar internets.
Anyways, I didn't actually submit for this one, but GameFAQS is doing a "Best Series Ever" Contest, and here's my guesses. It's already partially underway, but that's not factored into these, they're older than that and I'm not changing them if I was wrong already.
Bolded Title is my expected winner, Italics indicate the one I will/did vote for.
Hyrule Division:
Legend of Zelda vs Civilization - The first, and the first of several PC vs Console styled matchings. I like Civ. I've spent days and days playing the second, and his highly similar Alpha Centauri. The third was a total bust, absolutely worthless, and I haven't played #4 but I've heard good things. Meanwhile, Legend of Zelda has yet to ever let me down, except in making Twilight Princess so awesome but not being out yet. Oh, and the pain of doing the Water Temple in Ocarina - Master Quest, but that was a good kind of horrible agony. Also, it's not called the Hyrule Division for no reason.
Suikoden vs Mega Man X - Suikoden is interesting, it's got 5 games US now plus a Tactics, and all of them have the 108, all unique and special. But it's not a big ticket game francise, nor really all that good IMO (Played 1 and 3, own 4). Megaman X is my flavor of Megaman. The dash command really made the game. It was a breath of fresh life to the stagnating series and made for a really excellent platformer series (Voice-overs in later stage games aside).
Pokemon vs Star Ocean - I'm not saying Pokemon isn't great. But honestly it's just too much in too many directions. It was a great game originally, but the system breaks down at higher levels, and once they added breeding and all 100% more types it just became a really odd mash of an excellent tactical-strategy game with a kiddy facade. There's some great strategy and innovation there, but minus points for over-milking the system with half-assed things like Pokemon Snap and Hey you! Pikachu. Star Ocean, otoh, isn't really a well settled US Series yet, with little being in the spotlight past the success of the Third game. Fantastic battle system, less than stellar travelling options. Hours of enjoyment thanks to Battle Trophies, but not really too settled in the mind of the masses.
Metroid vs Kirby - Hard call but ultimately the overwhelming ability of Kirby to continue to have stellar games across Nintendo systems (with 2 recent excellent games on the GBA) compared against the nightmarish navigation and headaches of Metroid's latest games seals the deal for me. I do think the Varia Suit variant Samus hype could win the day but when the battle
Snake Divison:
Metal Gear vs Soul Calibur - Soul Calibur is nice and all, a solid weapons-based fighting game, perhaps the best of it's kinda. But Metal Gear sorta defined an entire genre, set the stage for Splinter Cell (argue all you like, I feel the two are the same game, just a different mood, cast, setting, and style). Snake Division belongs to Metal Gear, truth.
Fire Emblem vs Silent Hill - Eh. Silent Hill may have 4 games and a movie relative to Fire Emblem, but I think the Smash Brothers inclusion plus their multiple more-recent releases gives Fire Emblem the edge and the victory.
Castlevania vs Halo - Even though Master Chief himself has repeatedly been kicked around in the opening rounds of character contests, I think there's still enough generic Halo popularity, especially with bigger E3 news about Halo 3 than the total lack of anything on the forthcoming front for Castlevania except perhaps the occasional handheld game that tries to improve upon SotN and loses all it's focus and thus appeal in the process. There is always the odd chance that Halo fans just aren't GameFAQs people, and seeing how little FPS's need FAQs, I could see it happening. On a personal level, Halo is fun, Halo II legendary is asskickingly hard but the Musketeering (All for one, one for all) sorta ruins the co-op aspect, but Castlevania, especially and almost exclusively SotN, the new handheld Nintendo offerings aren't bad either, just reigns over anything Halo could hope for, especially with Halo 2's non-ending.
Kingdom Hearts vs Harvest Moon - Harvest Moon is cute and all, but it doesn'tstand a chance against KH, especially as people are still finishing up all the greatness that was KH2 (Since I know that A) Not everyone got it immediately and B) Not everyone marathoned it quite as much as I did).
Mushroom Division:
Super Mario Bros vs Madden NFL - I'm not actually a SMB fan, but I'm pretty much an anti-mainstream-sports game fan. Madden is the pinnacle of football games, but there are much better ways to get your gaming adrenaline flowing, EASports ftw and all, Mario is an icon. Madden is a voice, and some of us find him kinda pompus.
GTA vs Warcraft - Another Console versus PC pairing. Tell me all you want that GTA is a PC game, just like Halo it's a Console game first and foremost. GTA is popular, but Warcraft as a series is greater, even without factoring WoW into the equation.
Sonic the Hedgehog vs Devil May Cry - I'm not really a Sega fan, never have been, and definately never been a Sonic fan. Dante's done well in past competitions, especially since DMC3 didn't suck, but I'm not covinced that he can overcome the rabid fandom that Sonic fans have presented in the fast.
Super Smash Bros vs Dragon Quest - Dragon Quest might be an origin-level RPG and even had decent success with DQVIII (especially with the FFXII Demo attached), but I don't think it's going to stand any chance against the power of SSB, which I've witness rewrite the history of several previous character battle contests.
Ultima Division:
Final Fantasy vs Diablo - Diablo, fairly popular. Not a FAQ-friendly game as it got lots of it's own major fansites. Also, doesn't stand a chance against FF. I may've really enjoyed Diablo, but I think even most of my amusement was third party additions.
Mega Man vs Mario Kart - I don't really like the non-X Mega Mans, but I think they're popular, or at least enough of a running gimmick to beat out even the glory of Mario Kart DS's wireless competitions.
The Elder Scrolls vs Street Fighter - Morrowind/Obilivion will crush a series that hasn't had a new game see the light of day in ages. SF is nice and all, but it's old, and old means it's lost the support that other games have garnered in more recent eras.
Resident Evil vs Shadow Hearts - Shadow Hearts is a relatively newcomer, a bit niche, and nothing compared to a sweepingly massive series across consoles with several connected movies, some of which are even good. Shadow Hearts is good and all, and I'd love to get my hands on a copy, but RE wins.
