Video Game Icons Tournament Round 2 Review

Dr. Wily says we will not take over the world

unless we are listening to Geekcast Radio Network.

Maybe you should play something else. Hello and

welcome to GCR and Wars. This is episode 17.

This is round 2 of our video game character tournament.

I'm of course TFG and Mike. Joining me is Steve

Megatron. Hello. Hello. And Optimus Solo, aka

Solomac. No. Yes. But I am here. It's never gonna

die, dude. That's as good as your acronym. With

as much crap as you give me, you're never living

Solomac down. Yeah, it's kind of like, uh...

Barney Tron. All right, so we are here to reveal

the round one winners and also discuss the round

two matchups for this tournament. The other hosts

that were supposed to join us, they... They're

getting beat by the losers of round one. They

got eaten by Kirby. They just haven't gotten

a shot back out yet. Oh, that was Yoshi. Oh!

they got tongued and then turned into eggs so

we're still waiting for them to come back to

the living so hopefully they'll be here some

of them next time we record so i guess my whole

sucking and blowing thing with kirby actually

did come true uh what i was gonna originally

say was the duck hunt dog ate everybody else

i like where we went with it much better shut

up jerk All right, Kev, what do we got? Well,

for the last two weeks, we've been discussing

round one, which saw 32 classic video game character

icons, whatever you want to call them, go up

against each other. Let's not get caught up in

the semantics. So we spent the first week talking

about all the Nintendo characters. Then we came

back the next week talking about the second half

of round one, which included a variety of PlayStation,

Sega, old school, et cetera type characters.

But we did not reveal any of the results, so

that will be what we're doing right now, as well

as getting into the second round matchups as

we try to narrow our field. So today we go from

32 to 16, and then we'll discuss basically who

we think should be in the Elite Eight. So, starting

back with the first battle that we talked about

two weeks ago, that was Mario and Luigi. Steve,

how did the people vote, and who came out the

victor between Mario and Luigi? This one was

28 -4. Mario slam dunked it. Slam dunk -a -rooney

for Mario. So a pretty big victory by 24 votes

out of the 32. He beat him by 24. So Mario moves

on, and Mario was set to face the winner of Yoshi

and Toad. Steve, how did Yoshi and Toad fare

against each other? Yoshi won 20 -9. So an even

bigger victory, 20 -9 by Yoshi, which means that

for our first Round 2 matchup today, we have

Mario going against Yoshi. Mike, what do you

think? I don't know, because it's been a while.

I know there have been multiple versions of Smash

Bros. in the last 10 years, but honestly, the

last version I played was on the N64. And it

just... Having Mario go against Yoshi, it's a

little bit strange to me, because they usually

are working together. Now, obviously we know

Popular Vote was not going to get Toad in here,

but I kind of would have liked to see Mario versus

Toad, so Mario can give the beatdown on that

annoying little mushroom. As far as Mario versus

Yoshi, I don't know, man. I'm not even sure which

one's the more popular character. I mean, you'd

think Mario because he's been around longer,

et cetera, but they're both pretty popular. So

I don't know that we can necessarily predict

this one just based on saying, oh, the more popular

character is going to win. There's a lot of things

to look at. I mean, obviously Mario has, you

know, we hashed out the powers that he has in

round one. You know, he has the fireballs. He

can turn into the raccoon, Tanuki, you know,

et cetera, et cetera, frog suit. whatever. But

you kind of got to look, too, at the games that

they were together, in which case Yoshi was usually

pretty reliant on Mario being on his back and

controlling him and navigating him, etc. But

we did talk about in round one that it's hard

to beat Yoshi because if you hit him, he just

runs around until somebody else jumps on his

back. And he can obviously stick his tongue out,

eat you, and poop you out as an egg. The only

time Yoshi can die, at least in Super Mario World,

I don't know about Yoshi's Island Super Mario

World 2. That game's too weird for me. But in

the original Super Mario World game, the only

time Yoshi can die is if you're on a level that

has a side -scrolling screen where the screen

is moving with you so you can't go back. You

know what I mean? Yeah. He can only die there

or if you jump off his back and have him land

in a pit. So those are the only two ways Yoshi

can die. That's what I was going to say. I was

going to say Mario's best chance might be to

jump on Yoshi's back because Yoshi's not going

to be able to do anything about that. Mario can

then direct him towards a cliff and then jump

off at the last second, sending Yoshi to his

death. But he has to do all that before Yoshi

can eat him. Yeah. Steve, what do you think?

How does this one play out? I think Mario's going

to get his flight power and fly over him as he

gets hit by a mushroom. I think Yoshi's going

to lose because of two reasons. Not only does

Mario have all of his different adaptability

blocks that he obtains throughout the levels,

we also have the fact that... Well, Yoshi may

be impenetrable for the most part, unless he

gets bumped into. And then he runs off a cliff

by himself, because there's no pilot. And then

the fact that Mario is a fan favorite, so he's

going to destroy Yoshi just for that reason alone,

which is an unfortunate reason. But I think it's

also because you have human versus dino, and

human has smarter. Yeah. I mean, Yoshi definitely

does have that lemming characteristic. So you

would think Mario would be able to outsmart him

in a way and get him to basically defeat himself.

If I was going for which character I liked better,

I would probably pick Yoshi. Although we did

have one commenter in the post for last round

mention that they could or they should team up,

form an alliance, and try to run the table on

the rest of the tournament together. That would

be hilarious, but it would never happen. So that

would be interesting. So my heart wants Yoshi

to win, but I really think, not just playing

the fan favorite or the popular character, but

I think Mario should be able to somehow outsmart

him, whether he uses his different powers, whether

he flies above, whether he jumps on his back

and leads him to his own death, or whether he

just bumps into him and Yoshi runs off on his

own. I think the Lemming characteristic comes

into play. Yoshi could beat anybody in this tournament

if he had the right opportunity, but I think

he still has a bunch of weaknesses, and I think

Mario takes advantage of that. Mike? I think

that it's one of those things where you just

don't know how people are going to vote, and

you don't know if they've actually listened to

our opinions here on the podcast. But it's going

to be interesting to see how far Yoshi makes

it if he beats Mario here. Because just, and

I'm not doing any predictions here, I'm just

stating a fact. Looking at the entire cast of

32 characters, I don't know how any of these

other characters are going to fight Yoshi. I

just don't know. I think there would definitely

be some intriguing matchups. I mean, I think

Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Kirby, some of those

would be interesting matchups where they have

some of the same strengths. But I honestly, you

know, a lot of people had the comments and they

see certain people running away with this one

way or the other. And I'm not saying that you

can't see that from a few people, but I think

it'd be a mistake to say that any of these 32

characters does not have a weakness because they

all have a weakness and they all can be beaten.

I think it just depends on who matches up with

who. In this one, Mario is so used to controlling

Yoshi and being the leader of that group that,

I mean, he could just play fetch with Yoshi,

throw a freaking branch off a cliff, and Yoshi

would probably go chase it. He would go, yeah,

exactly. So, I don't know. I'm going with Mario

on this one, even though I would rather have

Yoshi win. Yeah, I got to go with Mario, too.

All right, so we're unanimous on that. We'll

see how you guys, the listeners, vote on that

one. In the next section of that bracket, we

had in the first round Princess Peach facing

off against Zelda. Steve, how did that one work

out? Well, Zelda crushed Peach, which sounds

hilarious. She crushed the Peach. 20 -4. So another

landslide for Zelda. 20 -4, only four people

voting for Peach. Obviously, that match is the

lowest so far with only four people voting for

Luigi in that first battle. And the winner there,

Zelda, would go on to face, and this is an interesting

matchup possibly, Zelda would go on to face the

winner between Little Mac from Punch -Out or

Link, also from the Zelda franchise. So who is

Zelda facing, Link or Little Mac? Surprisingly,

despite the fact that we tried to build a good

case for this character, Little Mac got stomped

by Link. 21 -3. And obviously, that's not necessarily

surprising. A lot of times it does come to who's

the more popular, and obviously there's a landslide

of Zelda fans out there and Link fans. I think

that would be closer than that. I don't think

21 -3 quite does that justice. Lil Mac now holds

the reign for the fewest votes with three here

so far. So that would set up a matchup between

Zelda and Link, Mike. This has got domestic abuse

written all over it. I'm sorry. I'm so used to

them being in a relationship or dating or whatever

through the cartoon series or any of the games,

and it's like, it's just so weird to have the

two of them fighting against each other. I almost

wish, even though I didn't vote for them, I almost

wish Little Mac had won. That would be more brutal,

because then we'd have an actual boxer beating

the crap out of Zelda. if he was successful.

Is this a case? Could you make the case that

Zelda and Link come head -to -head, facing off

against each other, and we see what Kevin Nash

did back in the NWO days, where Link just lays

his sword down and takes one for the team? Potentially,

yeah. You would think so, but... I... would beg

to differ. I mean, I hope he wouldn't do that,

but I could see the chivalry coming out in him

just being like, Zelda, you deserve to go forward.

I can't hit you. See, here's the thing, okay?

Yeah, sure, Link has been in numerous amounts

of the Zelda games. Obviously, he started the

original Zelda game, but I keep, and I know I

shouldn't do this, but I keep going back to the

animated series from the 90s, and all I can think

of is Link will let Zelda beat him if she'll

just give him a kiss. Just give me a guess. I

mean, what ways does Zelda have to combat against

Link other than trying to just use her mental

prowess to convince Link or to trick Link through

flirtation? I mean, Link has a lot of weapons.

He's got a shield. He's got swords, boomerangs.

He's got lots of different things that he can

use. He's an experienced fighter. Zelda is experienced

at getting captured. No, no, no, no, no. Zelda

is not... Okay, yeah, that's the premise of the

game. Zelda is no Peach. Zelda isn't, you know,

this is your princess in another castle. No,

no, no. Zelda is a fighter. Even though in the

game she's not, obviously, she's the one you

have to save, but she really can be a fighter,

and she does use magic. She's used the boomerangs

before. But I'm not sure how this one's going

to play out. I just... I'm not sure. And again,

because Link is so chivalrous, I don't think

he'll fight her. Obviously, you know, our tournament

here in the voting will, you know, determine

that. But I'm just thinking of, you know, if

I saw this, if I saw the two of them out in my

front lawn right now, I think you're right. I

think Link would, you know, basically kneel on

his sword pretty much. Steve, you disagree? I

think in this scenario, I think Link's going

to take it. I think he'll knock her out mid -transformation.

It could be like a Dark Link. Like some type

of thing has come over him and he's no longer

chivalrous and then he's just badass. Yeah, he'll

become Toon Link. It's a different version. That's

his little kid version. It doesn't play fair.

So it knocks her out while she's in mid -transformation

to Sheik. with the shield or the boomerang it

may be a combination of both so it's just a like

that except uh you know she gets knocked out

yeah i think i would you know if they are actually

going to fight i would be siding with link um

but i agree that there is that one case scenario

mike where someone was actually playing this

out to how we kind of want them to in an actual

battlefield scenario or type of thing that link

there is that chance that he doesn't fight her

So that would be the best argument for Zelda,

I think, would be for Link to almost lay down

his arms. But otherwise, I think Link takes this

one. I do think that out of all of the round

two matchups we're going to talk about tonight,

that this is going to be the closest one or the

most interesting one to see how many people voted

for which character. Because, you know, no offense

to any of the other characters. These are two

people that eventually fall in love with each

other at some point or another in some part of

the Zelda universe. So this is going to be, for

me, this is going to be the results that I'm

most looking forward to finding out who voted

for who and how the match came out because I

just don't know. I almost don't want to cast

a vote for either one of them because it's just

so wrong. I think the thing I'd be most interested

in would be to see what scenarios people have.

Maybe someone's thinking of another way that

Zelda wins this, another scenario or something

like that. So I'd love people to go to the website

and find the episode post and go ahead and comment

on what scenarios are you guys picturing, what

is going through your mind as you decide who

you're voting for in this matchup particularly,

and all the matchups, of course. So that would

be the next section on this bracket. Moving down

a little bit further on the bracket, we had our

fifth battle, which saw Mega Man fight against

Beautiful Joe. How did the voting go between

Mega Man and Beautiful Joe, Steve? Not so hot

for Beautiful. He's not so beautiful. No, he's

kind of ugly. This one got knocked out of the

park again because Mega Man stole his powers

and made him ugly with 21 to 3. Same numbers

as Link and Lil Mac. I don't know if I would

think it would be that much of a blowout. Am

I surprised that Mega Man won? Absolutely not.

Did I vote for Mega Man? Absolutely. 21 -3, maybe

somewhat surprising, but I guess when it comes

down to it, you've got to vote for who you think

is going to win, and I guess nine times out of

ten, that's going to be Mega Man. So that would

bring Mega Man to face off against the winner

between the sixth battle in round one, which

was Donkey Kong and Fox McCloud. How did that

fight go? Donkey Kong kicks some ass. I'm just

dumbstruck. It is the closest. He did literally

kick some ass. What was the count? Rocket Raccoon.

I mean, Fox McCloud did not win. It was 15 to

10. So only by five votes. This is the closest

we've had so far. 15 to 10. So it's an actual

close one. This is one of the ones we debated

the most on that episode. So maybe not a surprise

that it's that close. So Donkey Kong comes away

with a five. point win which then pits donkey

kong against mega man uh steve mega man and donkey

kong i mean donkey kong has the same thing that

worked for him against fox mcleod could work

against mega man he has the brute strength the

power the ability to just throw stuff at you

shoot out of barrels right on rhinos or dolphins

or whatever but then of course mega man has a

library of weapons to use to shoot at you and

he's mastered the art of uh clinging on to uh

and balancing on tight spaces. So how do you

see this one go? Mario did it better. Mega Man

really couldn't hold onto it a whole lot until

he became Mega Man X anyway. But in this instance,

I'm still going to have to go Mega Man only because

not anything against Donkey Kong because I do

enjoy the games as well and I do enjoy Mega Man.

Mega Man has the ability to steal powers from

people. But Donkey Kong has no powers. Donkey

Kong has no powers, but he just has crazy brute

force. I think it depends on this one where we

find our combatants at the beginning of this

matchup. If Donkey Kong is at a ground level

spot and Mega Man is on any type of platform

or ladder... I think Donkey Kong can easily throw

a barrel at him, shoot out of a barrel at him,

or somehow knock him off and have the advantage.

But if that's not the case, then I don't know

what kind of defense Donkey Kong has from a distance

when Mega Man's shooting whatever he is going

to be shooting at him. I mean, let's just assume

that he has his regular X -Buster and then he

has his, you know, let's say that maybe he absorbs

something from Beautiful Joe. Like maybe he can

draw, you know, a hole in the ground and Donkey

Kong just falls through when he's stampeding

forward. Even if he just has the blaster. Yeah,

I mean, he could just knock him right out. Yeah,

Donkey Kong's got to get this fight to close

range before he's done. And Mega Man just has

to connect with enough hits before Donkey Kong

gets to him. And Mega Man is also acrobatic.

Right. So he could just, you know, do a quick

touch flip and go right over him and then blast

him from behind. Now there are, I would think

there's a lot of Donkey Kong fans out there,

but there's a lot of Mega Man fans out there

too. So this is another one where popularity,

I don't know how much it has to play in this

one. But I don't know. Mike, do you see any scenario

that Donkey Kong can defeat Mega Man from a distance?

Or does he have to close it and make this like

a hand -to -hand combat thing? He has to get

in close. At a distance, Mega Man is going to

just... destroy him instantly. The funny thing

is, I mentioned a minute ago that Donkey Kong

has no powers, and then Steve mentioned the brute

force thing, and the first thing I think of is,

oh, Donkey Kong is Batman and Superman in the

same character. Only you would make that reference.

But yeah, I think Mega Man's going to take it

to Donkey Kong. I mean, if you really want to

come down to intelligence... Over the characters,

all Mega Man's got to do is toss them a bunch

of bananas. I mean, in some ways it does parallel

the Mario -Yoshi fight. Not completely. I mean,

Yoshi and Dunk are completely different characters

in a lot of ways, but it's a similar situation

where you have maybe a smarter, more agile person

going against somebody who has to rely on kind

of just dumb luck and brute force type thing.

So I'd be interested to see if those two fights

go the same way, and I'd be surprised if we have

Yoshi win and then Mega Man win, or Mario win

and then Donkey Kong win, because that would

be people voting different ways there. You would

think it would either be Mario and Mega Man,

or Yoshi and Donkey Kong. But we'll have to wait

and see how people vote. And then that takes

us to what our seventh battle was in round one,

second to last one on that side, which was Bomberman

versus Conker. And, Steve, how did that one play

out? Again, it was kind of almost a half and

half, literally. Bomberman managed to bomb Conker.

Thought him a fake squirrel. It was a bomb. 16

to 8. Yeah, so, you know, another close one.

Only eight votes separated them, basically. I

think people might be sleeping on Bomberman.

I mean, the guy's got bombs, and he can be sneaky

with them, and he's got a lot of them. So I think

don't underestimate Bomberman. That would mean

that Bomberman would get to go against the winner

of Pikachu and Kirby. And obviously there's been

a lot of talk about Kirby. Let's see how he actually

did it when it came to voting for first round,

Steve. He ate that damn mouse. Kirby over Pikachu

by what count? 13 to 9. Only four votes separating

them. That is the closest of our battles, actually.

Is that because of the number of Pokemon fans

out there? Possibly. I don't know. It could be,

and I think that because Pikachu's the most well

-known out of the Pokemon. Because it seemed

like a lot of people were talking about Kirby

and how he's the odds -on favorite and he could

destroy the whole tournament, and he's coming

away with the closest, the slimmest margin of

victory here in round one so far. But I guess

that either way, he still wins. And that puts

Kirby against Bomberman. And I don't care what

everybody has to say about Kirby and that he

can just inhale everybody and take their powers

and whatnot. He can't actually take their – let's

correct one thing. He doesn't just get to take

everybody's power and keep them unlimited. That's

not how it works. He doesn't just get to take

someone's power, keep it unlimited, and just

– go through everything and eat everybody. And

even if he does eat Bomberman, then what's saying

that Bomberman can't go kamikaze on him and blow

both of them up? That's very true. He could just

blow himself up in Kirby and they'd both just

die. I mean... What now? Or at least he could

get Kirby... I mean, if Kirby eats everything,

I think it would be pretty easy for Bomberman

to convince Kirby to eat some bombs. I know Bomberman's

not the more popular character, and I know this

will probably be a landslide vote for Kirby,

but I think Bomberman has maybe one of the best

shots in this tournament of taking Kirby out.

Kirby eats things. Bomberman has bombs. Like,

eat a bomb, blow up, pink Kirby -ness everywhere.

Mike, how do you see this one going? That sounds

so wrong. It's like some Stay Puft marshmallow

blew up. Oh, my God. That sounds so wrong. I

mean, I could be wrong. I mean, I know a lot

of people don't vote for Kirby. How do you see

it playing out, Mike? Kirby versus Bomberman.

Kirby can eat anything, even bombs, and he's

not going to be affected. So I think Kirby's

going to take it. You can't blow up? I don't

think so. It's been a long time since I've played

a Kirby game. Maybe I'm just biased because I

want Kirby to lose somewhere. Because I disagree

with the whole, I just can eat everything and

hail everybody's power and nobody can beat me.

I'm like the biggest badass in the world. But

that's just not the case. It's Kirby. He's like

a Jell -O version of Mega Man. Steve, how do

you see this one going? Unfortunately, or fortunately,

depending on your scenario, I see this going

in favor of Kirby. Only for the fact that Bomberman,

yes, he may be a bomb. But Kirby can not only

absorb him, but Kirby can fly. Well, in his weird

sort of air -sucking way. And... Oh, I don't

have field day with that one. He has his sword

that he can unleash when he's coming down. He

can turn into a ton of bricks and land on top

of them, so even if Bomberman exploded... He

would be safe. I saw someone did certain battles,

not really like a tournament like this, but they

were just doing an individual battle online somewhere,

and they had Kirby going against Boo from Dragon

Ball Z or whatever. I don't remember who he had

winning, but it seemed like it was a pretty epic

fight because they both can just keep getting

bigger, it seems like. So then that's how we

have the... one side of the bracket that's it

for that side so we have mario against yoshi

zelda against link megaman against donkey kong

and bomberman against kirby and i think it just

gets very interesting from here on out there's

uh there might be some blowouts but i don't think

they're obvious blowouts well let me just say

to that the funniest thing of all is I called

all but one of that side. Which was the one you

didn't call? Donkey Kong against Fox. I was hoping

Fox would take it just because even when I play

the game, Fox royally kicks Donkey Kong's ass

when I have the computer playing. That makes

sense. All right, so that means we can move over

to the right side of the bracket here. And battle

number nine, the first one on the right side,

we had Sly Cooper. going against Crash Bandicoot.

Now, we had kind of a split panel when we did

this record last week. We had people, at least

one person, voting on each side of this. Steve,

how did it play out? How did Sly and Crash do?

Well, Sly and Crash played out. Sly was pretty

slick. Nine to four. So another very close one.

Another five -point spread here. Not a huge margin,

but Sly prevails, as I think most of us predicted.

I'm sorry, Mike. Shut up. So that means Sly gets

the luck of going against the winner between

Rayman and Spyro. How did Spyro and Rayman end

up? Well... This is the start of a massive downfall.

Spyro burned his ass with 11 to 2. Dragon power.

Everybody likes the dragons. I guess my argument

failed to try to support Rayman there. Even though

I'm not really, I don't have anything vested

in Rayman. I'm a huge fan. I just thought he

had a chance, but Spyro, I guess, prevails, which

means it's Spyro against Sly Cooper. Is it just

people voting dragons the rest of the way, or

is Sly not just Sly enough to go against Crash

Bandicoot, but also Sly enough to slay the dragon?

Mike, how do we go? I got to go Spyro again.

How did I know you were going to say that? He's...

Sly Cooper might be cunning and stealthy and

whatever else, but Spyro can just come right

at you with the fire and he can basically fly

around your ass and he can fly circles everywhere.

It's just Spyro, hands down. Have you ever battled

a raccoon? No. Is that what Sly is? Yeah. Yes.

Okay. Those things are vicious. They might be

vicious, but again, I think this one specifically

falls into what we fell into with Donkey Kong

and Mega Man. I don't think so. I think it does,

because unless Sly can get in there up close,

all Spyro's got to do is fly up above him and

just flame on. There is something to be said,

though, about the smarter, more intelligent,

more cunning opponent, which obviously would

be Sly in this. I don't know. to vote with the

smarter guy than just the dumb luck. But Steve,

what were you saying? Well, I was going to say

that I think, you know, yeah, Spyro has the flight

and he has the fire, but Spyro also, I could

see losing to Sly, only for the fact that Sly's

cunning. He seems like he's the kind of character

that would wait for the opportune moment, whereas

Spyro is more, cocky and arrogant and seems more

younger, whereas Sly seems like an older, more

seasoned and would kind of wait his turn to attack

and catch him when his guard's down. I just see

him outsmarting him. Yeah, I'm kind of siding

with you. I mean, I'm not saying that it's going

to be a landslide. I think this would be a very...

Honestly, out of all the matchups we've talked

about so far, this is the one I absolutely don't

know how it's going to play out. I'm not saying

I know how all the other ones are, but I have

a feeling I could... kind of guess each one to

see. I don't know who's going to win this matchup.

I don't know who's going to get the most votes.

I don't know if they were actually, you know,

I don't even think it matters if you're voting

on popularity and who's just the most known character

or if you're voting on, you know, if these two

are actually fighting. Either way, I don't know

if there's a clear -cut winner. I am going to

be, out of all the matchups in this round, this

is probably the one I'm going to be the most

interested in seeing how it plays out. I don't

see either one of them having a clear -cut advantage,

but I'm kind of with Steve here. I think the

smarter one, the more cunning one, and the more...

I don't know. He looks more like a fighter, even

though he's going against a dragon that can breathe

fire. I don't know. But that's the thing, though.

You'll have to remind me, because I don't remember

past yesterday. What weapons does Sly have to

fight with? He's got that big sickle thing, that

curved hook thing. Scythe. Yeah, and he's got

his brain. So he could just cut off Spyro's wings.

He could just scoop him out of the air, hook

him, and toss him somewhere. I don't know. I'm

not saying he has the better arsenal. I think

Spyro has the better weapons, most likely, but

man, sometimes you can just get outsmarted and

get tricked, and his name's Sly. I think the

only thing that... The only time Spyro would

really get fooled by Sly in general is if he's

charging at him and Sly moves out of the way.

Because I know from playing the Spyro games,

once you get charging, sometimes it is hard to

stop. But I think if it's in a standstill fight,

even if Spyro's flying around, the fire's going

to scorch that raccoon. I mean, everybody's going

to have raccoon for dinner next week. We'll have

to see what the listeners think. Post some scenarios.

Try to convince people to vote one way or the

other and give us the best scenario because I

don't know what it is on this one. I'm voting

for Sly on this, but I can see Mike's point with

Spyro. I can see it going either way. Moving

on down the bracket on that side, we had our

11th battle, which saw Ratchet and Clank go against

ToeJam. and Earl. Well, before Steve goes, this

is where we had a lot of stuff in the comments

about, I don't even understand why some of these

characters are here. They're not iconic characters.

If you don't appreciate ToeJam & Earl being involved,

then you have no soul. The opinions of Optimus

Soul do not necessarily reflect the opinions

of the Geekcast Radio Network. Holy shit. Steve,

how did this one go between Ratchet & Clank and

ToeJam & Earl? Well... Surprisingly, ToeJam and

Earl got some votes. They got two. We said there's

that one person out there. Apparently there's

two of them. There's that one person that just

wants to throw an axe in there. Yep, they lost

2 -12. So Ratchet and Clank, commanding win,

even though there's two jokers that did vote

for ToeJam and Earl, which means Ratchet and

Clank gets to go against the winner of the matchup

between Banjo -Kazooie, And Jack and Daxter.

How did that one play out, Steve? Do we even

have to answer this one? Want to take a guess?

Our first shutout. Yes. 13 -0. Jack and Daxter.

When I saw that shutout, I assumed that it was

ToeJam and Earl, but then I forgot that it was

Banjo and Kazooie that were facing off against

Jack and Daxter. I have no love for Banjo -Kazooie,

so that means we have probably one of the best

matchups, I think, in this round as far as just

coolness that they ended up going against each

other. We have Ratchet and Clank going against

Jack and Daxter, Mike. This is one of the reasons,

and I understand why you made the bracket the

way you did, but this is one of the reasons why

I would want one of these two teams on the other

side of the bracket so they can go against each

other in the finale or in the... in the semifinals

or something like that, because these two teams

are just amazing. They just are. But it's more

fun having Nintendo against Sony to Sega. Yeah,

I know, but I'm just saying that it would have

been cool to see these four characters in the...

in the finals. The other thing you've got to

think about when you're doing that is that that

could be a dream matchup to see those two going

against each other, but by putting them each

on opposite sides of the bracket, you would risk

them never going against each other, and instead

we have here in the second round a matchup between

Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter, so we at

least get to talk about it. Steve, who do you

think has the upper hand on this one? They both

had commanding wins in round one. I like both

designs of both characters. I like both concepts

of them and what they do. I'm going to go Ratchet

and Clank. And no, Mike, not because David K.

voices Clank. Liar! It's because I like robots

more in general. And I think that having the

robot companion would be more of an uplift to

Ratchet than having a freaking weasel. Even though

he's sarcastic and he could probably kick ass

too, I think that, yes, you have the more hardened

warriors and then you have the more techno warriors

above that are more raw, but I still think that

they would manage to come out ahead using technology

over brute force. This is one where I'm, again,

torn between my heart and my head here because

my heart wants to vote for Jack and Daxter, but

my head's telling me I should probably vote for

Ratchet and Clank. I'm actually going to hold

off on voting on this one. Voting's open for

a while now once this airs, and I'm going to

wait and see if someone can convince me one way

or the other on this one. Some of them I'm going

to vote right away, but on this one I am going

to hold off and see if someone in the comments

on the website can convince me. to go one way

or the other way, because I kind of want to vote

for Jak and Daxter, but I need to hear a good

argument for that. Otherwise, my default vote

will be for Ratchet and Clank. Mike, what do

you think? I've only played each of their games

since they've been out. And I don't remember,

Steve, is Ratchet and Clank, is one more serious

than the other and one is a goof -off? Or are

they both serious characters? It's kind of, they're

very even. As far as personalities, as far as

I can tell, Ratchet and Clank are... I mean,

yeah, there's a little bit of sarcasm going through

between the two of them, but I get the feeling

that they've almost not been added as long as

Jak and Daxter. Because I remember playing the

Jak and Daxter games, and Jak is really, really

serious, and Daxter is this... Well, I mean,

it's basically the same thing. I mean, their

sidekicks are their sarcastic relief. Right,

but... clank is more like upper crust sarcastic

yeah like he he's more like um daxter's lowbrow

yeah there you go yeah daxter is very lowbrow

daxter is someone that would if if clank had

pants daxter would de -pants him well daxter

would be like those are your testicles um it's

just one of those things where This is one of

the reasons why I like this battle so much is

because you have four characters that are very

similar as far as a little bit in their personalities.

And I'm just wondering if Daxter's scheming will

outwit Clank's logical approach. Yeah, that's

a good question. Because, I mean, sneaky people

can get a few up on over -intelligent people.

Yeah, and if you're sly, you can go to one. Oh,

God. I'm sorry. Shut the hell up. Dragonfire,

damn it. Dragonfire. Dragonfire? No. Dragonballs,

I'm sorry. No, Dragonfire. Oh, okay. Moving on

down the bracket on that side here, we get to

our 13th battle, which saw Earthworm Jim face

off against Bubsy. How did this one go, Steve?

Well... Come on, the cast got nine lives. I think

Earthworm Jim, you know... Not only pantsed and

de -lived him, but I think that he left him with

one life to live. Only in the world of video

games does a worm beat a cat. But Earthworm Jim

takes it to Bubsy. What was the final count on

that one? Twelve to one. Twelve to one. More

people voted for Toe Jim and Earl than for Bubsy.

And then that will put Earthworm Jim against

the winner of Gex. And Sonic. Steve, how much

does Sonic weigh? It's the Geico Gecko. Sonic

ran circles around this one. 13 to 1. Yeah, so

we had a 12 to 1 and a 13 to 1. So now we have

Earthworm Jim against Sonic the Hedgehog. I know

that Sonic will blow this one out of the water

because he's the more popular character. He has

a huge following. He's super fast, etc. Um, are

we selling earthworm Jim short though? I mean,

he's, uh, he's got the gun, he's got the firepower.

Mike, uh, how do you see this one going? Earthworm

Jim is a, is sneaky, uh, in, in his attacks and

stuff like that. And, but it's Sonic. I mean,

you know, Sonic should definitely be faster than

the earthworm. Well, yeah, it's not like he's

just going to suit or no suit. So, yeah, I mean,

I, I mean, earthworm, He's going to have to hit

a couple different shots in a row to make sure

Sonic's rings go out and then hit him again and

again. And I don't know if he's going to be able

to do that with Sonic's speed. Steve, how do

you see Sonic versus Earthworm Jim playing out?

I see Sonic running circles around him, turning

into his spike, you know, the super fast cutting

hedgehog piece that he turns into where he can

just plow through stuff. I see him cutting right

through the suit. Yeah, that would leave Earthworm

Jim in a world of trouble, but we've already

seen the Earthworm take out a cat, so can the

Earthworm take out a hedgehog? He'd have to be

faster than the hedgehog. That's true. And then

moving on down, we have our final two matchups.

Battle 15 saw Pac -Man go against Frogger in

our Battle of the Classic characters here. So

Pac -Man against Frogger. How'd that play out,

Steve? Did Frogger trick Pac -Man into walking

in front of a semi? No, he got hosed. He got

ran over by that truck 14 times over. Our second

shutout of the first round here, Pac -Man 14

to nothing over Frogger. So apparently, I mean,

maybe it shouldn't be a surprise there because

Frogger half the time doesn't need anybody battling

him. He just kills himself. Pac -Man victorious,

which means he gets to face off against the winner

between Q -Bert and Dig -Dug. Now, this is one

where Q -Bert is probably, I mean, a lot of people

could make the argument that Q -Bert was the

more popular character. We made the argument

that Dig -Dug would probably take this one. Were

we right or wrong, Steve? Oh, yeah, he took it

13 -2. So Dig -Dug over Q -Bert, 13 -2, which

sets up a matchup between Pac -Man and Dig -Dug.

Mike? I wish Neil was here for this. Because

we really would need Neil on this to argue this

one. I honestly don't know. I mean, Dig Dug could

put that thing in there, blow him up, inflate

him, or chuck his little thing at him. Pac -Man

would have to eat him. I guess that's Pac -Man's

only offense would be to eat Dig Dug. Dig Dug's

not super fast, so that might play into Pac -Man's

favor. Steve, how do you see this one playing

out? I see Pac -Man... Going, owm, owm, owm,

owm, on top of Dig Dug, using his 3D animation

against his 2D animation. Yeah, I see Pac -Man

chomping his way to the top. Steve? Or, I mean,

Mike, you agree or disagree? I don't know. See,

this is one of the things where... Dig Dug already

took out Q -Bert. Could he take out another classic

favorite and take out Pac -Man? See, that's the

thing. I'm not sure. Is Dig Dug going to win

this whole thing? Oh, no. Oh, hell no. Don't

even go there. Oh, my. So, on this side of the

bracket, just to recap, we have Sly going against

Spyro. We have Ratchet and Clank going against

Jak and Daxter. We have Earthworm Jim going against

Sonic the Hedgehog. And we have Pac -Man going

against Dig Dug. So those are all your round

two matchups going back from what we said before

with all the Nintendo side and this side. Seeing

what you have, the one that I'm most intrigued

to see how people vote would be the Sly and Spyro

matchup. I really don't know how that's going

to go. I'm also interested to see what kind of

arguments or scenarios people can give us between

Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter. Mike, what

are you looking forward to most in that? Or what's

the most lopsided one we're going to have here?

Who's going to have the biggest margin of victory

in round two? I'm not sure. I think the two that

are going to come the closest are Zelda and Link

and the two double teams, Ratchet and Clank and

Jak and Daxter. Those are going to be the two

closest matchups. As far as runaways... I think

Sonic versus Earthworm Jim might be the biggest

runaway. That might be. Or Bottom Man and Kirby.

I can see that going that way, too. Yeah, but

the rest are all going to be too close to call.

Well, and this is when it starts to get interesting,

too. Every time we move to the next round, it

becomes more hard to tell and a little bit more

interesting to see how people vote and how things

are going to actually shake up to see what kind

of matchups we would get in the next round in

the quarterfinals. I don't know. Steve, how do

you see this whole thing now that we know all

the winners of round one and we know the matchups

of round two? How are you sitting? What do you

think about the tournament so far? I think it's

going to get a lot more interesting now. I think

that a lot of the name -calling to the tournament

and getting mad at some of the scenarios are

going to be over because a lot of the shutouts

have happened. the ones that we didn't think

were going to make it to the next round maybe.

But I think that now they're going to start getting

more specialized in their attacks against each

other, and it's going to get more diverse as

it gets closer to the finale. I think also it's

going to be interesting because now is when we're

going to get to see are people just going to

strictly vote for the more popular character

or are they going to vote for scenarios and who

would actually have the upper hand in a one -on

-one battle because it's obvious that Mario is

one of the most popular characters of all time.

That doesn't mean that Mario couldn't get beat

by a certain... select characters throughout

this tournament. Same with everybody else that's

been put out there as a favorite, whether it

be Kirby, whether it be Ratchet and Clank, whether

it be whoever. There's got to be people within

this tournament that would have the upper hand,

but are people just going to vote straight favorites

and straight popularity? Or is it going to come

down to, well, that person had the wrong matchup,

so even though they should on paper win this

whole thing, they ran up against the wrong person

and they're going to be eliminated in this round

or in the next round or whatever, Mike. Yeah,

I mean, it's really going to be interesting.

Because as we consistently whittle these rounds

down to the finale, it's going to be interesting

to see who makes it, who doesn't. I think people

are going to get a lot more upset as we go through

to see which characters do and don't make it.

Yeah, as people see their favorites go to the

wayside, there definitely will be some backlash.

But that's fine, as long as we're getting feedback.

That's what makes us fun, the discussion, the

comments, the debates, the scenarios that people

post, and what's the best way for people to get

involved in this tournament, Mike? Go to geekcastradio

.com, look for GCN Wars Episode 17, listen to

the episode, then vote. And state your opinion,

try to get other people, try to convince us to

vote in other ways, and feel free to... Talk

about this to your friends. Put it on your own

Facebook. Tweet it out. Try to rally support

for whoever you're wanting to vote for. And we'll

see how it goes. Steve, when can people vote?

It will be up on Wednesday, 10 a .m. All right.

So get your votes in. Spread the word. And we'll

see what happens. And we will be back next week

to discuss the winners of round two and the matchups

for the quarterfinals. Thank you for listening

to GCRN Wars. You can get a hold of us in the

following ways. You can contact us on Facebook

by searching Geekcast Radio Network. You can

comment on this episode post with the poll. Please

be sure to fill out the voting. And if you'd

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comments below. You can get a hold of us on Twitter

at Geekcast Radio. Hashtag GCRN Wars. That's

G -C -R -N -W -A -R -Z. So until next time, tune

in and check out GCRN Wars Tournament on Episode

16, where we cover the other half of Round 1's

fight. So until next time, unleash the geek in

you.