@bullet_to_the_head: Judging by your avatar you know who Frieza is. But judging by your tone you are a fanboy. Frieza would splatter Samus all across the landscape. Frieza is on another plane of power entirely from the people in our tournament. There isn't a single person in the tournament capable of beating Frieza. Frieza, who in his first form is entirely capable of destroying a planet, wouldn't even need to power up to destroy Samus.
@sirfizzwhizz: Since the dark Ryu was introduced prior to 2000, which was the cut off criteria for the tournament, he does have access to those powers.
Thanks for your responses. @nerdchore, Yes Ryu can go evil and Cloud has all his Limit Breaks.
@bullet_to_the_head: We decided that Ryu would close with Samus and peel her out of her suit. His hand-to-hand skills are much better than hers and she relies too heavily on her gadgets.
I will post the link to our podcast discussion and the final match up of our tournament later this week.
Here's the setup: Ryu from Street Fighter in a all out fight to the death against Cloud Strife.
Now for the details: This is classic Ryu and he has any and all powers and abilities from any game before the year 2000, basically from Street Fighter to Street Fighter 3. I realize that 4 takes place between 2 and 3, but we had to draw the line somewhere. So, what does Ryu have? Amazing hand-to-hand combat skills, plus the ability to channel energy into a projectile which he can launch at his foes. Ryu is a determined individual and will not back down, nor will he give in.
Cloud on the other hand is often called the failed SOLDIER or the failed experiment. That isn't to say that he is weak. He was supposed to be another Sephiroth. This is Final Fantasy VII Cloud, not Advent Children or any of the Kingdom Hearts games. He also has no materia for this fight, just his Buster Sword and Limit Breaks. That said, Cloud is a genetically modified experiment. He possesses great physical strength and stamina. On the speed and mobility issue he may be slower than Ryu, but that is just conjecture on my part.
Cloud does have reach on Ryu in this battle, but there are no other environmental factors that will give an advantage to one or the other.
So, who wins? Does Cloud succeed and move on in this tournament, or does he finally find an enemy that he can't overcome and Ryu moves on to the final round?
Sir Arthur is the main protagonist from Ghost n' Goblins. As for abilities, he has a suit of armor that protects him from one hit then explodes off him. He can throw various weapons and magics. I can't say that he has an awesome array of abilities, but he is a survivor of one of the hardest games ever.
His opponent in this bout is Strider Hiryu, a techno-ninja. Strider has beyond peak human strength, speed, stamina, etc. He carries a plasma blade that will cut through metal, stone, flesh, whatever.
This is a fight to the death. So, who wins? Sir Arthur or Strider. What do you say?
I need to update this image. We have resolved some of the bouts already. Like the Terry Bogard vs Ryu, the Ryu Hayabusa vs Link, etc. This time we have Earthworm Jim versus Sam and Max.
Earthworm Jim is an artificially evolved earthworm in a supersuit. The suit gives him access to a blaster, a pocket rocket, and super strength. He can also use his body as a whip, both as an offensive weapon and as a tool. Basically, he can whip people or he can use his body to grab things and swing from them. He can also use his head as a propeller to slow himself if he falls.
Sam and Max are the Freelance Police. They are empowered to take the law into their own hands and are rather more than dangerous with it. Sam is a six foot anthropomorphic dog. He has some fighting ability and a big gun. Max is a lagomorph and is more often described as a psychotic bunny thing.
This is a fight to the death between the three. So, who triumphs? Earthworm Jim or Sam and Max, and why? Does Jim's blaster and super strength win the day or do Sam and Max double team the worm and take him out? What is your take?
My cohost and I will be discussing this next week and we will read any responses we get before 12/22/15. After that we will call the fight.
We are back for the next round in the Legendary Battle of the Classic Video Game Characters. I have not updated the roster, but there were applicable forum post existing so we have already decided that Ryu Hayabusa and Ryu moved on in their respective branches and we are now on to Mario versus Mike Haggar. I realize that this is a rather bizarre pairing, but we did the initial assignments randomly and we still had a pirate versus a ninja. Mario was able to overcome Lara Croft to make it into the second round, but can he prevail over Mike Haggar to make it into the third?
In this combat, Mario has the abilities from Mario 3 and everything prior, though he does not have access to a star (that would be cheating). He has fireballs, frog suit, hammer brothers suit, tanuki suit, mustache, etc. Will he be able to use these to his advantage? or will he succumb to Mike Haggar.
Mike Haggar is the Mayor of Metro City. He was a former wrestler who used his tough stance on crime to become the Mayor. And by tough stance on crime, I mean he beat the criminals up. So for this bout, Mike has his array of wrestling moves, his trusty pipe, and his one shoulder overalls. Plus, like Mario he rocks an impressive mustache.
This is a no holds barred fight to the death, Thunderdome rules in other words. Who will win and why: Mike or Mario? The Italian Plumber or the Wrestin' Mayor. Does Mario triumph because of his agility and array of powers, or does Mike Haggar beat him to a pulp because he is tougher, has more combat experience, and a pipe?
@norin-radd: Thanks for the comment. Just for clarification, this is Ryu from the 1988 Ninja Gaiden game.
There are some mismatches in our tournament. We randomly assigned the characters to the initial starting brackets. There were some characters that we wanted to see go much further, but that just didn't happen in some cases. That said how do you see this going down? Ryu is a formidable opponent, but I don't think that this is as huge a mismatch as you suggest. Link would have died long before this if he wasn't a capable fighter.
As you can see we have made it through the first tier of our tournament. Many valiant competitors have fallen by the wayside and we still have quite a way to go in this tournament. The next bout will feature two perennial favorites: Ryu Hayabusa and Link. Ryu is the protagonist of Ninja Gaiden - a ridiculously difficult game and Link from Legend of Zelda. Just to clarify, this is Ryu from the Ninja Gaiden that was released in 1988. New Ryu is awesome, but we are going for classic here. This holds true for Link as well. Think Legend of Zelda up through Ocarina of Time. When in doubt all characters are pre-2000's. Although, if you didn't know these two characters I would have to ask which rock you've been hiding under and I would have to question your gamer cred.
Ryu is a highly trained, experienced, physically gifted, driven, tenacious, individual. He has been trained to the peak of human physical limits. He is an expert swordsman and hand-to-hand combatant. He has also been trained in ninja magic, giving him access to various mystical techniques such as fireballs. The combination of his fighting training and his physical training make him extremely difficult to counter and avoid. His tenacity means that he will not give up. With his stoicism and training he can face any opponent without fear. He keeps a cool head in a fight so that he can look for weaknesses the he can exploit.
Link is a very different kind of fighter. He is also a highly skilled fighter. His physical prowess comes from his questing across Hyrule facing the myriad dangers of a wandering hero. He has faced many and varied opponents giving him the experience needed to tackle any opponent. He is lightly armored so as not to hamper his mobility. His weapons, the magical sword and shield, magic candles, wands, and other paraphernalia, make Link a well-equipped and versatile opponent. Having faced the various dangers of Hyrule he isn't daunted by any opponent.
So, who wins? The highly skilled, dauntless ninja or the Hero of Hyrule? and why? The only rule is that one must win. So, does Link win because he can use his various items to keep Ryu at bay until he can exploit an opportunity to finish off his opponent? Or does Ryu, with his ninja training, speed, and strength, completely dominate this fight?
My co-host and I, at the Distracted Gamers Podcast, will be discussing this next Monday on our show. We will be reading your responses.
Legendary Battle of the Classic Video Game Characters
We have some rather strange match-ups in this little tournament we have going at the DG Podcast and this is no exception. We have Cloud Strife facing off against Bill Rizer and Lance Bean. Most of you should be familiar with Cloud Strife as he is one of the more iconic characters to have come out of the Final Fantasy series. I have talked to several people who feel that, while Final Fantasy VII was a great game, it wasn't the best of the Final Fantasy series. However, everyone that knows the Final Fantasy series knows Cloud. Bill Rizer and Lance Bean on the other hand are more obscure. I had to go look up their names and I have played the game. I even know the infamous cheat code associated with them. If you haven't guessed yet, Bill Rizer and Lance Bean are the protagonists of Contra. Don't feel too bad if you didn't know their names either. Apparently in the American version their names were changed to Maddog and Scorpion.
According to several sources Cloud has a plethora of abilities. Cloud is endowed with superhuman strength, stamina, and agility as a result of his time as an experimental subject of the Shinra Corporation. If you are doubtful of his superhuman status, just remember how easily he can wield his buster sword. He is also an ace motorcycle rider and a master swordsman. His status as master swordsman also gives him access to several quasi-mystical sword techniques, the pinnacle of which is the Omnislash. In addition, he has access to various ability through the use of materia.
Bill Rizer and Lance Bean are members of the elite military squad called the Contra Force. Bill Rizer was modeled on Arnold Schwartzenegger and named after Bill Paxton and Paul Reiser from the Aliens movie. Lance Bean was modeled on Sylvester Stallone and named after Lance Henriksen and Michael Biehn who also appeared in Aliens. Not much information is given as to the abilities of these two soldiers. However, we can make some extrapolations based on their backgrounds. They are members of an elite special force. This would indicated above average or even peak human physical conditioning. They are also shown jumping easily over obstacles and even other combatants. In addition, since Contra is set in the future we could argue that the peak of human physical conditioning has gone beyond what we can attain in the present. They can also be considered as expert marksmen and hand-to-hand combatants as a result of their military training.
I will not try to color this by tipping the scales. I think that both parties have the ability to come out ahead in this bout. Cloud is certainly a capable fighter with the necessary skills and abilities. He is experienced in fighting multiple, gun-wielding opponents. While Bill and Lance are an experienced military team with the training to work together and come out ahead.
So, who wins in this scenario: the Contras or Cloud? This is a fight to the finish by death or KO. And please, give us reasons why one would prevail over the other. If you like the characters or not, we don't care, as long as you make a good argument as to why your chosen hero would win.
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