Greetings, forum goers and advocates of fantastical melee! You have been chosen to witness the revival of the midweek throwdown, Wednesday Night Fight. After disbanding the establishment in the winter of last year, I received enough positive feedback that a re-return would be in the best interest. Only this time, I choose to include my friends at the Caves of Narshe.

From being bored one autumn day in 2005, I posted a very simple question on my then-active LiveJournal: Who would win in a fight? If I remember correctly, the inaugural matchup was Bullwinkle vs. Big Bird. I received a large amount of comments, both formally on the entry and via my AIM account that I thought it would worth doing again the following week. Before I knew it, the whole thing had taken off.

So what is it? Pretty self explanatory. Every Wednesday Night, a new matchup will be posted. This matchup will consist of any two (or even sometimes more) characters from the respective worlds of different video games, movies, tv shows, comics, cartoons, mythical creatures, and any other medium you can think of. Your job when the matchup is posted is to make a post proclaiming who you believe would be the winner.

Basically, this is just a glorified way of settling the age-old question of "Who would win in a fight?". But it's more fun than just "pick this or that". It's a good chance to use your imagination.

Some of this game's past popular matchups include Link vs. Wolverine, Mario vs. Luigi, Godzilla vs. Jesus Christ, and Santa Claus vs. Adolf Hitler.

Back when this started up, I did make a thread on CoN. But it unfortunately did not get received nearly as well as I had hoped, and it was forgotten on the forum only two weeks after. I'm hoping this go around shows a better turnout.

Before we can begin, I will go over the rules and guidelines of this little trifle. Everyone please abide by them to allow for maximum clarity.

1) First and foremost, I must insist that only I post the weekly matchups. I have a system in which to present the matches in the best possible medium. For the sake of clarity and getting the maximum amount of performance of each one, I would like to make sure each one abides by the same set up.

In the beginning of 2007, I changed the rules that let a line-up of random fans get a shot at posting their own fights. But that ended up falling apart as there were some occasions where the order was forgotten and there were weeks without a match up.

BUT, I am always open to suggestions. If you have a great idea for a matchup, please send your suggestion to me via PM. Please don't post your suggestions in this thread. It's much more efficient and keeps the thread clean if you do it via personal message.

2) The winner is declared preceding the next week's fight. How the winner will be decided is as easy as you think. The votes will be tallied, and the fighter with the most is declared the winner.

Now, it's important to realize that this forum is one of a few sources of votes. At the end of each fight, I will show the distribution of votes as through their groups. The income of votes are grouped as such:

CoN Crew: you guys
LJ Peeps: those who voted via the community on LiveJournal
Facebookies: those who voted via my personal Facebook (I'll be looking into creating a Facebook community shortly)
Ready AIM Fire: those who voted by sending me a message on AOL Instant Messenger.
Team Target: those who I work with at the local Target (hey, retailers have to make up games to pass the insufferably slow passage of time)

In addition, I made a habit of addressing Google Fight to assist in the voting process. The winner of that unique feature gets an additional vote as well.

I give you my word that all the votes are legitimate and accounted for correctly. After all, it does me no good to alter the outcome since I posed the damn thing to begin with.

3) A little creativity is well worth it. When you decide who to vote for, a little description of just why you think that goes a long way. It could be one sentence or a paragraph, doesn't matter. In the past, I have been known to count one word answers as half a vote. Seriously, just one little tidbit why or how they would win.

Also, please think about who you vote for. This is not who you like more than the other one. Put your biases behind you and vote appropriately, even if that means the guy you don't like beats the other guy you do like.

4) All matches are melee style. There are no energy bars, HP, MP, or stats of any kind. Essentially, think about all battles as a knock down-drag out brawl rather than anything you usually see on an RPG or fighting game--even when RPG and fighting game characters are involved.

5) After debating whether to make one long thread or a new one every week, I decided to start out just going with one thread that's updated every week. If the matchup has ended, please do not vote for it. If this proves to be trouble, I'll change to different, weekly threads.

But feel free to post if you are disgruntled over the previous week's match, realizing that a vote will be moot at that point.

6) And most important of all, let's try to keep this thread spam-free. It's always been a forum that severely frowns upon spam and off-topic posting. Same forum rules apply, so it's not anything new: no spam, no double posting, etc. Rangers has green lighted me to start posting it here, so let's please not turn this into a free-for-all.

That all said, here's to looking forward to Wednesday nights!

First fight upcoming shortly...


...Oh yes, one more thing. There is a fair possibility that some spoilers may exist on any given week. I try to be ambiguous enough while giving enough information. But this is a general warning right now.

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Fifty-two weeks later, WNF makes its illustrious return. Because let's face it, how else can you make it through the week without picking who will clobber somebody else?

The absence is finally lifted, and we take a look at the combatants as they enter the battle grounds. Let's head down ring side for the introductions...


In the RED Corner, keeper of the sacred blade...



Nariko

Where you've seen her: The Playstation 3 staple Heavenly Sword

Thrust into the defense of her clan's holiest and most sacred of blades, Nariko wielded it in defense against the power hungry King Bohan and his minions. While the legend states that its holder will pay heavily under its guise, Nariko is an absolute force to be reckoned with. A warrior in every sense of the word with an unstoppable weapon.


And her opponent...


In the BLUE Corner, fighting in defiance of Ares...



Kratos

Where you've seen him: Sony's massively popular God of War series.

The rawest form of vengeance lies within Kratos. He's assigned to kill the god of war himself; a desire he craved all his life. Kratos is a behemoth of a man, brutally trained, and a ruthless killing machine. Paired with his bloodstained cleavers (dubbed the Blades of Chaos), he ravaged anything that got in his way. The man defies death too... but don't mistake that to think he's immortal. Maybe not the greatest tactician in the world, but formidable none the matter.

How this fight came to be: The Heavenly sword has led Nariko past King Bohan and his men to an even bigger threat. She eventually intercepted the volatile hitman. Sensing the power radiating from the sword she carried, he ceased his mission long enough to destroy it... and her.

Battle Tactics: Nariko has a slight edge in the weapon department. It's not like this is an ordinary blade. Also, she has the edge when it comes to agility.

Kratos is no slow rock though. He moves with the fury of a hurricane, and is a wrecking ball. He won't throw out too many tricks or tactics. But the fact of the matter is is that he will refuse to die, literally and metaphorically. His Blades of Chaos are more than a suitable match against the god blade as well.

Setting: A central plaza in Athens.

Vegas Odds: Just about as even as you can get, but the bookies are calling for -1.5 in favor of Kratos for the home battleground advantage.

Do your research:
Nariko's Ability (YouTube)
Heavenly Sword WikiPage
Kratos' history (YouTube)
God of War WikiPage

This post has been edited by Sabin on 15th January 2009 02:39

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I'm so glad that you finally brought this back. WNF was one of the more interesting weekly events to grace my internet habits. Always managed to appeal to the mega-nerd in me.

After some heavy consideration, I've reached my verdict on this fight. I'm going to give it to Nariko. Why? Well, all the brute strength in the world is useless if you cannot land a hit. Worse still, doomed are those who rely solely on blind rage to win a fight. Nariko is much more agile than her opponent, faster and able to think more than a single move ahead. The versatility of her weapon also gives her the advantage against the simple dual-wielding Kratos. Now, that doesn't mean it won't be a tough fight! I imagine Nariko would have to employ a hit-and-run tactic, meanwhile focusing on staying out of reach of the monster's hits. Sure, he has the tenacity to withstand that sort of assault for a while, but even Kratos has his limits.

Again, my vote goes to Nariko.

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I remember these on your LJ; good times.

I'm going to give it to Kratos. You have one two games that are remarkably similar in gameplay, except one heroine is switching between different swords and slicing left and right for revenge against a king while the other hero is ripping the heads off of minotaurs, throwing lightning bolts, and lashing out with chain blades for revenge against a god. Seriously, in each game it's a different god. Who would you want on your side?

I'm voting for Kratos.

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Almost a tie.
Almost.

My vote goes to Nariko, since they're pretty evenly matched, when it comes to fighting ability, however Nariko has more agility, a bigger target and breasts to confuse her adversary.

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And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how the battle rages - especially when you're talking about video game characters. It must be said that, particularly in that arena, a half-naked female trumps a half-naked male any day of the week; since I've played neither series/game, what else do I have to go on?

Lasz asks which you'd want on your side. Well, the way I figure it, I am the liability either way, so I might as well go with the teammate who's nicer to look at, right?

Nariko.

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i gotta throw this one to Kratos. Nariko is certainly agile, i'll give her that. but Kratos has a number of AoE abilities that he can throw out when Nariko closes in. at the very least, it'd throw her rhythm off and leave her open for a vicious beating. Kratos is certainly no slowpoke as well. he's got the speed, the power, and the rosters of abilities to put someone like nariko in the ground. it'd be one hell of a match, though

Kratos, but only just barely

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This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 15th January 2009 15:57

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Nariko is in over her head on this one. All Kratos really has to do is stun her with a lightning bolt and turn her to stone while she's down if he wanted to fight her from a distance, and I don't know if I'm allowed to describe the level of violence that would ensue if he actually got his hands on her. The fact that she's hot makes no difference, Kratos has brutalized hot chicks plenty of times.


Needless to say, Kratos gets my vote.

The results of last week's fight:

Knock down-drag out indeed. It was a slug fest to the finish, resulting in a massively destroyed plaza. It was an ensuing battle, yet only one fighter stood...

Voter distribution
CoN Crew: 3 - 3, tie
LiveJournal: 4 - 0, Kratos
Facebookies: 6 - 2, Kratos
Ready, AIM, Fire: 7 - 7, tie
Team Target: 4 - 2, Kratos

With a score of 24 - 14, your winner is ... Kratos

You just don't mess with the god of war.


This next matchup will the leader of a war torn land and his well-chronicled defense of his land against the monarch of a sandy foreign land ... let's get it on!

In the RED Corner ... dining in Hell tonight...



King Leonidas

Where you've seen him: the graphic novel, and film replicating such, 300

In a country that saw fit to dispose of every imperfect child, Leonidas was by far and large the perfect person, ruler of the Spartans. Brutal, formidable, bloodthirsty, but above all--honorable. He won't have his 299 allies with him in this bout, but that means little to nothing. He is versed in both the sword and the spear. He left an ocean of dead Persians in his blood....

...and he's looking to add one more to his belt... because his opponent...

In the BLUE Corner ... monarch of the middle east...



The Prince of Persia

Where you've seen him: the massively popular video game series of the same name.

The Prince, who through all these years is still never named, represents the hope of Persia against all its many plagues. Yet he's conquered them all from evil minded viziers, absent minded maharajahs, and a plethora of curses. He's a man with many tools, but favors his trusty curved saber most of all. He's been the protector of the realm for as long as he could swing a sword, and has a couple or helpful tricks up his sleeve.

How this fight came to be: Prince of Persia. King of the Spartans. You do the math.

Battle Tactics: Leonidas isn't one to mince his words. He has a sword, a spear, and a shield. That's all he needs to take out hundreds of men. Sheer gladiator-like tenacity will be his most trusted attribute.

While it may be assumed that the Prince may not be the warrior that Leonidas is, he does have one bit of sorcery in his hands: The Sands of Time. With it, he can reverse, slow down, or speed up time to his advantage. If he can win, it'll be with the aid of that magic.

Setting: This ... is .. SPARTA!

Vegas Odds: Leonidas by 6, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see an upset.

Do Your Research:
Leonidas destroys Persians with the greatest of ease (YouTube)
The Prince shows off his skill against some ... shadow monster thing (YouTube)
The Sands of Time powers (@ 1:20) (YouTube)

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Since it's the Prince with the Sands, he wins.
Even without that powerful magic, it'd be hard for Leonidas to land a single hit on the Prince, and WITH it, he can just approach, take direct hit, rewind, dodge it by inches and be within stabbing distance of the surprised Leonidas ('How did he get this close?!")
Also, since the setting is Sparta, the Prince can take advantage of terrain, since he can take advantage of anything that isn't a great, wide, flat field. His acrobatic skill gives him a great opportunity to use ambush tactics in this battle.

Leonidas is an outstanding warrior, but he just can't win here.

The Prince gets the Vote.

This post has been edited by SilverMaduin on 22nd January 2009 22:35

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The ability to manipulate time gives this to the Prince. While I'm 114% sure that Gerard Butler could kick Jake Gyllenhaal's ass, the time manipulation is too broken to ignore, and Elika just might be more powerful than 299 Spartan warriors. So my vote goes to the Prince.

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If the prince has control over time, than he would definitely win. Not much you can do when your opponent can just slow down time.

If it were Warrior Within Prince, Leonidas. But, since it's not, I can let my annoyance for anything related to 300 shine through; the Prince no doubt backflips off of a wall and makes a giant pile of sand out of Leonidas.

The Prince then uses said sand to rewind time. Not because he has an error he needs to fix; it's as simple as wanting to continue stabbing Leonidas over and over until that stupid catchphrase finally goes away.

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price hands down. the prince has the kind of maneuverability that Leonidas just couldn't hang with. i'm not gonna say Leonidas doesn't have one hell of a defense, but the prince is bound to get around that defense. speed > power every time. it also doesnt hurt that he can control time. but honestly, his control of time wouldn't even be needed to out maneuver Leonidas.

This post has been edited by Malevolence on 23rd January 2009 19:07

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With time control there wouldn't really be anyone who is a match for the Prince.

prince it is!

King Leonidas, go Sparta!

Letting the Prince keep his Sands of Time abilities was a bit of overkill. I think he could've got the job done even without them. With? It's just a completely unbalanced fight.

Leonidas is a powerhouse, to be sure. He is, however, only trained in combat suitable for the kind of battle his people would normally participate in, One on One combat is really not his strong point, whereas the Prince thrives on it. His speed, agility and versatility make him a much deadlier foe than any simple Persian soldier. No contest.

This post has been edited by Dragon_Fire on 23rd January 2009 18:09

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The results of last week's fight:

Leonidas was ill prepared for the might and magic that the Prince of Persia packed. His rule was end.. and what will become of Sparta? Stay tuned for the epic sequel, 300.2

Voter Distribution
Con Crew: 7 - 1, Prince
LiveJournal: 2 - 1, Leonidas
Facebookies: 4 - 0, Prince
Ready AIM Fire: 12 - 4, Prince
Team Target: 4 - 2, Prince
Google Fight: +1, Prince

Total: 28 - 9.

Your winner: Prince of Persia

Methinks I gave the fight away by including the Sands of Time, eh?


This week sees an experienced and volatile warrior square off against a determined guardian. Here they are...

In the Red Corner... the perfect specimen of the samurai...



Mitsurugi

Where you've seen him: One of the most notable characters from the popular Soul Calibur series.

Mitsurugi is the preeminent samurai. No one handles a katana like he does. His skills are beyond impressive, garnering him accolades across his native country as a fearless warrior. He thrives with all his hard work and talent, but is driven to become even stronger. His quest to acquire the Soul Edge, even knowing of its evil nature, is well chronicled. When it comes to raw talent and sharpened skill, there is no one who tops Mitsurugi.


And his opponent...


In the Blue Corner ... a divine guardian and protector with a 'tude to boot...



Auron

Where you've seen him: Saving Tidus and Yuna's asses in Final Fantasy X

When discussing Auron, one word always seems to come to mind: Badass. He is a variable force to reckoned with, constantly coming out of the woodwork to lend a hand. His skill with a katana is impressive, making him match up well with his opponent. Invaluable and a strategic attacker, Auron is a tank, literally and figuratively.

How this fight came to be: When Mitsurugi heard the rumor of the Yevon religion, his intuition told him they would know information regarding the whereabouts of the Soul Edge. Along his path, Auron appeared to prevent him from his intentions.

Battle Tactics: Is there anyone who can top Mitsurugi with a katana? He's agile and moves with distinct grace. As a warrior, there's honor in his blood, so he won't play dirty. But he still has the tactile mind of the greatest of fighters. If he incorporates a Soul Charge, he'll be that much more lethal

Auron is presumed to be not the warrior that his opponent is. But do not sell him short. That's when he'll get you. He's an opportunist, biding his time until he has the perfect opportunity to lash out with his saber. Much like his opponent's booster, it would do Auron well to unleash an Overdrive or two.

Setting: Spira

Vegas Odds: Vegas says Mitsurugi's got the edge, taking him by 5. But my money says Auron could beat the spread.

Playtime's over!

This post has been edited by Sabin on 29th January 2009 03:28

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Auron mostly because I actually know who he is and he was in KH2 and he beasted it up in that game too.

Auron Auron
He's got enough brains to make up for Mits's slight combat edge. Plus, he can use magic

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This is a Final Fantasy forum. Auron's going to win.

But I'm still taking Mitsurugi. Sure, Auron can exploit a sphere grid to do whatever in the game he wants short of summoning; sure, he's a tanking specialist that focuses on breaking stats and powerful single hits; and yes, I'm also aware that he's a total badass despite being about twice the age of his game's other playable characters. But Mitsurugi's motivation is different. Auron only exists because of a promise to his two best friends. Mitsurugi only exists to kick ass. Throughout the Soul Calibur canon, Mitsurugi is the character with the least direction and most badassery. In Soul Edge, he was a samurai who refused to believe that any stupid rifle would make swords obsolete, and he proved it by taking a sniper at twenty paces and cutting him down. In the other four games in the series, he's just a wandering samurai kicking ass and taking names. Similar to the old legends of Miyamoto Musashi, Mitsurugi has no mission other than to test himself, and has never been known to lose a match, despite having at least two sexy female assassins out for his head.

Plus, Mitsu is rated as a middle or top tier in every single SC game (high in Edge and III, middle-high in Calibur, II, and IV). Overall high power, a strong wake-up game, and good high-low mix-ups. He's a beast. In FF X, Auron is in the game's low tier. The lack of a multi-hitting Overdrive put his offense behind that of Tidus and Wakka, he is one-dimensional as a stat-breaker and tank, and the worst base Speed in the game is a major problem. Really, his best use is to attack with Banishing Blade at the start of a boss fight, and then bench him for the rest of the battle. Mitsurugi is a top-tier beast, Auron is a benchriding specialist. When badassery cancels out, you go with in-game power. And Mitsurugi wins.

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My vote goes to Auron. If nothing else, he had the only good voice actor in Final Fantasy X.



This post has been edited by Sephiroth on 29th January 2009 05:45

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When I first saw this one it seemed like one of the closest matchups I can remember of these, but the most enjoyable part of these for me is finding loopholes and stuff. So, considering the fight is taking place in Spira, then the traditional rules of the farplane, pyreflies, etc. apply. Meaning Auron is already dead, and because Mitsurugi probably can't perform a sending I don't see Auron really capable of losing in the fight. That with is combination of magic potential and flaming alcohol tornado makes him my pick.

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Mitsurugi wins.

Any damage Auron sends his way, Mitsurugi can take, dodge or block.
Magic? Mitsurugi had to deal with magic ever since he crossed Taki, he can take it.
Overdrives? If you've seen him move in-game, then you know they'll never hit him.
Sword skill? Here there's no contest. Mitsurugi outswords Auron any day of the week.

As much as I hate Mitsurugi and as I like Auron, I have to say it again: Mitsurugi wins the fight. Even in Spira.

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I didn't even think about that. That transforms this fight into a debacle.

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Auron. Shooting Star would send Mitsurugi back to whatever time or place he came from. It looks quite funny as well.

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FH made an excellent point, and, I for one, in the spirit of making sure the setting matters when considering the final outcome of a battle, (see: Art of War,) will choose accordingly. While the clear advantage combatwise goes to Mitsuragi, that nifty little glitch monkey wrenches the whole thing for him.

Auron FTW.

This post has been edited by MogMaster on 29th January 2009 23:02

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Auron because the only thing he has to do is use Armor Break and Banishing Blade and its an instant win.

auron is slower than mitsurugi. i'm a big believer in speed > power. sure, auron can use haste to speed himself up, but Misurugi will air juggle his ass.

This post has been edited by Malevolence on 30th January 2009 01:53

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