4TH QUARTERFINAL MATCH PRE-GAME ANALYSIS
18th Seed Fio Germi (Metal Slug) VS 10th Seed Zelda (Legend of Zelda series)
Fio’s name comes first, because by defeating Cirno the #2 Seed she absorbed Cirno’s top seed privileges, Highlander-style.
Now, Fio Germi’s match with Cirno was of course an all-time classic, one of the greatest in our contest’s history. It also enabled Fio to take revenge against Touhou (last year she was eliminated in round 2 by Momiji) and possibly enter the Realm of Elites, after last year being the quintessential Near-Elite girl. Fio Germi is the kind of girl who always performs well, and who pretty much seems impossible to dislike or anti-vote.
However, her odds of winning against Zelda are still looking mighty slim. Zelda has for two rounds straight been performing like a Champion, with only 2023 Samus ever having displayed a comparable level of dominance. Beating Ryza 58% - 42% is scary, scary stuff, very reminiscent of what Samus did to Reimu in the semifinals last year. That Statement win over Ryza is especially concerning for Fio, because prior to this tournament starting, Ryza is probably the girl I’d have estimated to be closest to Fio in terms of strength – with RYZA being the slightly more popular girl.
I’m not saying Ryza stands no chance whatsoever – maybe Zelda will be hurt by a backlash against this year’s NintenDomination, maybe Malon being narrowly defeated by Pyra demoralized Zelda fans, maybe Fio herself got boosted by that legendary Cirno match, maybe, maybe, maybe. But for now at least, the Italian gun gal will have to accept that Zelda remains the overwhelming favorite.
#BestVidyaGirlContest
I'm sure that I only played Metal Slug 4 in the mid 2000's in MAME.
It was an amazing game for the time.