MAIN EVENT: One-on-One Round of 16

[This Old Neon]

The One-on-One Round of 16 features eight single-elimination brackets. Pick the best of each match-up and cross your fingers.

• You can only vote for ONE (1) game.
• The game with the most votes in each bracket will advance to the Project Quarterfinals.
• You can’t change your votes once they’ve been submitted, so click carefully. Voting closes on Saturday at 11:59 P.M. ADT.

VOTE HERE

Bracket 1: Fortressvania
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997, PS1)
Team Fortress 2 (2007, PC)

Bracket 2: Chrono Prime
Chrono Trigger (1995, SNES)
Metroid Prime (2002, GCN)

Bracket 3: Tetromino Eater
Tetris (1989, GB)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater / Subsistence (2004, PS2)

Bracket 4: Batman in Space
Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009, Multiplatform)
Galaga (1981, Arcade)

Bracket 5: Final Fantasy World
Super Mario World (1990, SNES)
Final Fantasy Tactics (1997, PS1)

Bracket 6: Mario in Spaaaaace
Portal 2 (2011, Multiplatform)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988, NES)

Bracket 7: Bad Robots
Portal (2007, Multiplatform)
Mega Man 9 (2008, Multiplatform)

Bracket 8: Super Solid
Super Metroid (1994, SNES)
Metal Gear Solid (1998, PS1)

[SkyPikachu]

Bracket 1: Fortressvania
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997, PS1)
Team Fortress 2 (2007, PC)

Pass - Played some of SotN was good not amazing though and haven't played TF2 but I feel like I'd like it so I felt no vote seemed fair.

Bracket 2: Chrono Prime
Chrono Trigger (1995, SNES)
Metroid Prime (2002, GCN)

Pass - Played a little bit of both. Both seem good but it's hard to judge for a smalle sample size.

Bracket 3: Tetromino Eater
Tetris (1989, GB)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater / Subsistence (2004, PS2)

Tetris is easily a masterpiece and an easy pick since I never liked the MGS series.

Bracket 4: Batman in Space
Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009, Multiplatform)
Galaga (1981, Arcade)

I went with Galaga since I understand how good the game is having never played it and because Batman was an fun but average game.

Bracket 5: Final Fantasy World
Super Mario World (1990, SNES)
Final Fantasy Tactics (1997, PS1)

Never played Tatic however not many games top SMW for me so I feel fine voting for it. I might try Tactics though

Bracket 6: Mario in Spaaaaace
Portal 2 (2011, Multiplatform)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988, NES)

Toughest one but Portal 2 was just so fun and SMB3 really felt like a step back from World and I played it this decade. They're both great games but I think having played Portal 2 day one (i think I beat it before official release) and having played SMB3 20+ years after launch does impact this.

Bracket 7: Bad Robots
Portal (2007, Multiplatform)
Mega Man 9 (2008, Multiplatform)

Portal's a fantastic game haven't played MM9 but the original series have never really wow'd me as much as X anyway

Bracket 8: Super Solid
Super Metroid (1994, SNES)
Metal Gear Solid (1998, PS1)

Again not a fan of MGS so fairly easy pick since I adored Super Metroid.

[Sharecrow]

Bracket 1: Fortressvania
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997, PS1)
Team Fortress 2 (2007, PC)

Castlevania SotN for me. Fantastic game with lots of layers...lots of depth.

Bracket 2: Chrono Prime
Chrono Trigger (1995, SNES)
Metroid Prime (2002, GCN)

I like Chrono Trigger but had to go with Metroid Prime here. I’m one of the odd ducks that like that take more than the 2D versions in the franchise.

Bracket 3: Tetromino Eater
Tetris (1989, GB)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater / Subsistence (2004, PS2)

MGS3 - even though it’s notMGS2, it’s still a good game and has a plot and stuff to do and all of that.

Bracket 4: Batman in Space
Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009, Multiplatform)
Galaga (1981, Arcade)

Had to go with Batman here. Great game I still think about despite having played it a while ago.

Bracket 5: Final Fantasy World
Super Mario World (1990, SNES)
Final Fantasy Tactics (1997, PS1)

Final Fantasy Tactics. Because strategy games are better than platformers.

Bracket 6: Mario in Spaaaaace
Portal 2 (2011, Multiplatform)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988, NES)

Pass

Bracket 7: Bad Robots
Portal (2007, Multiplatform)
Mega Man 9 (2008, Multiplatform)

MM9 for being the best MM game ever.

Bracket 8: Super Solid
Super Metroid (1994, SNES)
Metal Gear Solid (1998, PS1)

MGS even though it’s not MGS2. Great game and loads of fun. Don’t like the wall jump controls in Super Metroid. Or my reflexes don’t like them. Something.

[Kong Wen]

Bracket 1: Fortressvania
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997, PS1)
Team Fortress 2 (2007, PC)

Bracket 2: Chrono Prime
Chrono Trigger (1995, SNES)
Metroid Prime (2002, GCN)

Bracket 3: Tetromino Eater
Tetris (1989, GB)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater / Subsistence (2004, PS2)

Bracket 4: Batman in Space
Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009, Multiplatform)
Galaga (1981, Arcade)

Bracket 5: Final Fantasy World
Super Mario World (1990, SNES)
Final Fantasy Tactics (1997, PS1)

Bracket 6: Mario in Spaaaaace
Portal 2 (2011, Multiplatform)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988, NES)

Bracket 7: Bad Robots
Portal (2007, Multiplatform)
Mega Man 9 (2008, Multiplatform)

Bracket 8: Super Solid
Super Metroid (1994, SNES)
Metal Gear Solid (1998, PS1)

Team Fortress 2 is an infinitely playable game. It manages to strike exactly the right balance of combat/engagement pace (not too fast and hectic, but not so slow that anyone can escape from any bad situation) and has great maps, great modes, and it's both accessible to new players and has something to offer to pros. (Symphony of the Night is good, but I gave the edge to TF2 because there are better metrovanias in the Castlevania series.)

Chrono Trigger is one of the great RPGs of the great RPG era (SNES). The story was actually comprehensible, the characters were fun, the music was amazing, and the gameplay systems were actually fresh at the time (sadly not so much now, as every wannabe retro-looking game has rehashed them endlessly *cough*Setsuna*cough*).

Tetris is a masterpiece and a rare perfect game. I might have to throw it under the bus against a stronger entry, but it should get through this round.

I'm actually going with Galaga over Arkham Asylum, as much as I enjoyed the latter game, just because Galaga also gets major bonus points for having huge genre-impacting ripple-effects. It's a good game and an important one.

Final Fantasy Tactics over Super Mario World mostly for personal reasons. It's my favourite game and I love it. Super Mario World is one of my favourite games in that particular series and it's one I spent a lot of time playing with friends and family, but even that can't get it enough nostalgia value to get it over the Tactics hump.

Portal 2 over Super Mario Bros. 3 mainly because I regrettably can't vote for the first Portal, so this is going to stand in for it. I actually played through the whole multiplayer campaign (me on my PS3, my friend on his PC!) before starting the story mode. Lots of great writing from Stephen Merchant, huge, fleshed-out puzzles and crazy scope. A worthy game.

Sadly, I'm throwing Portal under the bus because Mega Man 9 is the best main-series Mega Man game and an almost perfect distillation of the core formula of that series, making it one of the best action-platforming-shooter games to exist. It gets extra points because it's an extremely rare modern-retro game that doesn't get trapped by nostalgic wankery. I don't know how they pulled it off, but they put in the work, weren't lazy about it, and did a great job. Respect.

I really don't know who to vote for between Super Metroid and Metal Gear Solid. Any advice, anyone?

[This Old Neon]

Announcement:

We're going to have a re-vote in the first two polls, because the admin's masterful use of Excel reversed the ranking for the wildcard entries. There's a high chance that this would change the outcome of later rounds, so it's better not to let it slide.

Rather than confuse everyone by trying to start corrected polls mid-week, we're going to let the error polls run their course, and then post the corrected polls alongside any tie-breakers that are required.

[Kong Wen]

Announcement:

We're going to have a re-vote in the first two polls, because the admin's masterful use of Excel reversed the ranking for the wildcard entries. There's a high chance that this would change the outcome of later rounds, so it's better not to let it slide.

Rather than confuse everyone by trying to start corrected polls mid-week, we're going to let the error polls run their course, and then post the corrected polls alongside any tie-breakers that are required.

Does that mean Symphony of the Night is going against Metroid Prime in the top bracket?

[Sharecrow]

Announcement:

We're going to have a re-vote in the first two polls, because the admin's masterful use of Excel reversed the ranking for the wildcard entries. There's a high chance that this would change the outcome of later rounds, so it's better not to let it slide.

Rather than confuse everyone by trying to start corrected polls mid-week, we're going to let the error polls run their course, and then post the corrected polls alongside any tie-breakers that are required.

Does that mean Symphony of the Night is going against Metroid Prime in the top bracket?

Poor Metroid Prime...

[MerlinDrazziw]

Bracket 3: Tetris
Bracket 4: Batman: Arkham Asylum
Bracket 5: Super Mario World
Bracket 6: Portal 2
Bracket 7: Portal
Bracket 8: Super Metroid

[Claytone]

Galaga vs Batman is making it tough to submit my ballot!

[Kong Wen]

Galaga vs Batman is making it tough to submit my ballot!

I'm just throwing down for Galaga because it'll be a nice monkey-wrench in the next round, knowing that if Batman wins I'll be 100% OK with it.