Please GameFAQs, Enough Character Battles

It's pretty much an annual event, GameFAQs.com does a Character Battle, where users and visitors to the Web site vote in the daily poll on which video game character they favor to win in a fight.

Well, at least that's the way it should be.

The Character Battles typically become popularity contests, or like two years ago, a complete (albeit hilarious) joke.

Here are each of the winners from each Character Battle (and Got Villians?, Battle Royale, and Tournament of Champions poll) with how many times they have won/runner-up:

Link (5/1)
Cloud Strife (1/2)
Sephiroth (1/2)
Mario (1/1)
Samus Aran (1/0)
L-Block (1/0)
Solid Snake (0/2)
Crono (0/1)
Ganondorf (0/1)

Currently happening is Character Battle VIII. Yeah, they've done this 7 (+3) times before. Link, Mario and Samus have already secured their spots in the quarterfinals, and Cloud, Snake and Sephiroth are clearly going to fill in the remaining spots.

See how useless this is? It's the same finalists every year. I don't understand how the results can change every year. The Web site should basically have the same core users/visitors (such as myself), and there shouldn't be an influx in new users, seeing as how GameFAQs is one of the most useful and friendly sites for gaming.

We don't need to whittle down 128 characters down to the same half-dozen every year. Even though GameFAQs does a great job in swapping in and out newer characters into the tournament, chances are you won't see anybody new (like Lightning, Ezio, Soap or Nathan Drake) make it to further rounds.

Now, I'm also not arguing for system-, genre-, or generation-specific tournaments. While those would be a little more interesting (which PS3 hero would win? which FPS gunner would win? which 8-bitter would win?) it would eventually lead us to the same outcomes, the same winners, and the same waste of time.

I don't want to complete knock the GameFAQs poll, though. I absolutely love the polls. It updates everyday and gives me insight on what thousands of other gamers are thinking. Plus, I've been known to sit around, watch the clock, and try to respond first to the poll (in fact, I have done it over 30 times in three years, very sad, I know).

I'm saying that this Character Battle tournament has become completely useless if we get the same exact finalists every time. Retire the winners. Allow for the gamers to choose the best from the remaining field each year. Let's see some more new characters. Those who have failed horribly in the past should be given the boot. Keep cycling something new. THEN when you have the top 16 (which would ultimately boil down to Link, Cloud, Mario and Sephiroth anyway) do your Tournament of Champions.

Or just scratch the whole damn thing anyway.