Post #1876950

Reposting this since DRC's federation was broken yesterday: BEST VIDYA GIRL CONTEST 2025 FINAL, PRE-GAME ANALYSIS 16th Seed Malon (Zelda: Ocarina of Time) VS 3rd Seed Fio Germi (Metal Slug) Today the match that will determine our 2025 #BestVidyaGirlContest Champion is taking place, and it’s fair to say that this tournament final presents us with a somewhat surprising matchup. Sure, with the ever-dominant Samus out of the picture, there was always going to be more room for big upsets, but chances still seemed good that the top 2 seeds Zelda and Pyra would power through the field and end up meeting in the finals. Not so – and of course, it was none other humble farm girl Malon who ended up eliminating the girl her own series is named after. No, scratch that – she didn’t eliminate Zelda as much as she straight up dumpstered the poor #1 Seed! And while Same Fanbase matches can often prove fluky and deceptive, the fact that Malon beat Zelda even worse than Samus had back in 2024 (itself perhaps the most impressive win in contest history) instantly marked Malon as a Championship contender. Malon’s strength shocked me back in 2024, but far from falling off she has reached new heights this year. Sure, the redhead did struggle more than expected against Rachel Alucard (who now indisputably looks like an Elite girl), but against dark horse contest sensation Ashley "Leyley" Graves the milk maiden again showed incredible strength, and her 105 votes in that match is EASILY the highest vote total any girl has managed this year. And so, we finally have a redhead making the tournament finals, as well as our second Zelda rep in a row – a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that it’s two different Zelda girls who have managed to make the finals! That said, despite trashing the top seed, despite her vote total records set against Ashley, I still consider Malon the underdog in this match – and the reason for this is Fio Germi having turned Super Saiyan (or whatever the SSJ-equivalent is for Italians) during the later stages of this tournament. Fiolina has gone from performing far worse against bottom-seeded Bernadetta than Lappland did last year to beating Pyra just as badly as *Samus* did during that same 2024 tournament. Fio Germi is many things, but during the past 2 years, she has been this contest’s unofficial Comeback Queen: against Cirno in 2024, Fio was at one point down 36-18, only to win the next 20 votes 17-3 (!!), after which the ice fairy’s lead was not long for this world. I do believe this is the single biggest *ultimately successful* comeback in contest history – however, Fio has not rested on her laurels: against Tifa she came back from a 13-vote deficit, matching Neru’s incredible comeback against Misty, and against Pyra the Italian girl was 12 votes down before quickly erasing Pyra’s entire lead. It’s like Fio has the Slow Start ability, but unlike Regigigas, she actually makes it work for her (indeed, she might even successfully trick some people into giving her pity votes!). While a Top Seed, I actually considered Fio the second weakest of the 6 auto-qualified girls prior to the tournament starting, and I initially expected her to lose her Italian duel against Tifa – but given what an absolute beast Fio has turned into, it’s hard to imagine her losing to anybody at this point! Of course, a lot might come down to anti-voting and lesser-evil voting – for example, how many of Malon’s 105 voters are going to desert her for Fio in the finals? Will the redhead be rewarded for slaying Contest Villain Ashley, or will the sexy sister’s fanbase punish her for eliminating their girl? And will Fio in any way receive backlash for eliminating not just one, but TWO big titty JRPG Waifus? It’s definitely hard to say who our first non-Samus Champion will end up being – personally I think Fio will win, though I’m rooting for Malon. For now, I’ll leave you with this interesting little factoid: over the course of the 2025 tournament, Malon has defeated the girl who eliminated Fio back in 2024 (Zelda), while Fio has defeated the one who ended Malon’s Championship dreams the same year (Pyra). Interesting how these things work out.