Of all the new characters who made their
first contest appearance in 2004, Frog's impact will definitely be the
most discussed. When the bracket for 2004 was first released, Frog was
expected to roll over his first two opponents en route to a respectable
loss at the hands of Solid Snake. Frog's close defeat at the hands of Snake was
respectable, but he did anything but roll over his first two
opponents. It creates an interesting issue.
Frog built a lead of 480 against Liquid Snake, but soon began a
tailspin that saw Frog allow Liquid Snake to not only come back in the
match, but to build a small lead as well. Frog had to rely on the
evening Square vote to win the match, but he looked far weaker than
originally thought after the match with Liquid. The match with Master
Chief was more of the same, but on a much larger scale. After Frog
built a lead of 2400 votes, he completely blew it away. Within a matter
of hours, Frog went from being up by 2400 to down by 600. Only Donkey
Kong managed a bigger choke act than Frog did on that day, but once
again, the evening Square vote saved Frog. Not only did it allow Frog
to come back, but it also saved Frog from Master Chief's furious push
to win in the final hour of the poll. Had it not been for a few diehard
Square/Chrono Trigger/bracket supporters late in the match, Frog's late
comeback may very well have been in vain that night.
So what does Frog do? He turns around and gives Solid Snake the fight
of his life. Not only did Frog take the early lead in the poll, but he
also managed to make a massive evening push late in the poll. The match
was never in any doubt for Solid Snake, but after the way Frog
performed in the first two rounds, his performance against Snake was
nothing short of shocking.
Frog should definitely be back in the contest next year, and thanks to
CJayC's love of the rematch, we may very well see a Frog/Chief reunion
tour next year. But all the drama surrounding Frog's matches this year
aside, Frog is truly a strong competitor. His opponents were simply as
underrated as could be.
Summer 2005 Contest
Zebes Division - 5 Seed
Zebes Round 1 --- Defeated (4) Riku, 48604 [51.67%] - 45455 [48.33%]
Zebes Semifinal --- Lost to (1) Samus, 29112 [29.95%] - 68106 [70.05%]
Extrapolated Strength --- 33th Place [22.88%]
When it comes to being overrated, few characters have ever been more
overrated as Frog was back in 2004. Just read the writeup just above
for some proof.
But unlike some other characters that have proven to be overrated
through the years, Frog actually managed doing something impressive
against a known strong character. However, come time for Frog to prove
his strength he completely choked. Not only did he allow a relatively
weak (so we assume) newcomer to almost beat him, he bombed to hell
against Samus and essentially proved how overrated he was all along.
Not that most people didn't think that Frog was overrated from the
beginning, though him being overrated this much may not have been
expected. Now not only do we know how strong Frog truly is, but him
even returning to the contest might be in question.
Summer 2007 Contest
Division 1 - Third Group
Division 1 Round 1 --- 2nd place, 25410 [18.64%] - Samus Aran, 70546 [51.75%] - Axel, 25282 [18.55%] - Sarah Kerrigan, 15075 [11.06%]
Division 1 Round 2 --- 3rd place, 23372 [17.45%] - Samus Aran, 61543 [45.96%] - Scorpion, 32150 [24.01%] - Midna, 16834 [12.57%]
Never a dull moment with Frog in these contests. In the first round, he used the powerful Chrono Trigger night vote to build a 1900 vote lead over Axel for second place. Of course, we must not forget that he has one of the most abysmal day votes of any character, and he had to deal with the Kingdom Hearts day vote. He lost that lead in FIVE hours and was thought to be left for dead, just like his match with Master Chief. But, just like that same match, as the poll was drawing to a close, Frog fought back hard. He was not going down that easily. With a little more than an hour left, he was down 329 votes. Within the next hour, he had taken the lead back from Axel and kept pressing forward, eventually beating him by 128 votes. Many people questioned the legitimacy of Frog's comeback, but the result stood.
He would not be able to summon those heroics again in round two, as he was easily beaten down by Scorpion. After this contest, I can only wonder one thing...Can Frog beat ANYONE easily?
-Ulti
