There are dominant performances in Summer Contests, and then there is the track record that Link has managed to build up over the last three years. For every flash in the pan that has appeared to challenge for a contest crown, Link has managed to take them all down. Since day one, Link has been able to meet every challenge head-on, and not only has he been able to win, he has been able to absolutely demoralize and destroy nearly every opponent he has ever faced.

In 2002, Link was thought to be powerful going into the contest; however, all the talk was about Mario. Oddly enough, Link had the same odds of winning the contest as Sephiroth that year. Link almost took this as a challenge, and not only did he respond by winning the contest, but he flat-out annihilated every opponent he faced, including Sephiroth, en route to a Summer Contest victory in the first Summer Contest ever held on GameFAQs. Link was so dominant that year that he broke 60% five times, 70% four times, and 80% once. The only character that was even able to break 40% was Sephiroth himself, and Sephiroth was never in the match from the start.

2003 was more of the same for Link. Link's dominance in 2002 caused almost 18,000 people to pick him to win it all, and considering how easily he won it all in 2002, there was little reason to think he wouldn't win it all again. Everything began as expected for Link. He not only retained his 2002 level of dominance, but he looked even stronger than he ever did in 2002 (if this was even possible) after the first four matches of the 2003 contest. Not only did AiAi, Fox, Magus, and Samus fail to defeat Link, but they failed to put so much as a scratch on him. None of them managed to break 40%, and on top of this, Link held Fox under 20%, and AiAi under 10%. Link was looking primed and ready to win the 2003 contest with ease, but in the Final Four, Link met the first character that was able to hit him back in Final Fantasy 7's Cloud Strife. After Link managed to gain the early lead in the poll, Cloud came back, took the lead, and held on tight through 24 hours and 147,637 total votes, still a record that will likely never be broken. The fact that it took over 75,000 votes to bring Link down is impressive in and of itself, but the fact that it took such a large effort to take him down speaks volumes about just how strong Link is in the contest setting. Even more impressive is the fact that Link was handicapped by his Wind Waker picture for that Final Four match with Cloud. The match, in essence, could very well have been Cloud vs Wind Waker Link in the eyes of many, and this could have easily been just enough to turn the match in Cloud's favor. The obvious question was soon raised, and that was what would have happened had the match pic featured Link's adult picture instead of his Wind Waker model. It would only take but one year to find out.

As powerful as Link was in the first two contests, nothing could prepare the field for what he was about to do in 2004. The only blemish on his record in two years was to Cloud Strife, and as if possessed by hell itself, Link set out to conquer one opponent, and one opponent only. But before his rematch with Cloud, Link first had to absolutely obliterate five opponents unlucky enough to get in his way. But despite any and all common sense, those opponents took their best shots at trying to take Link down anyway. The end result, of course, were five characters left to die in the corner while Link marched on with a force that made him look stronger than he had ever looked in the past. One quick look at Link's 2004 stats verifies this. Link gave CATS the worst percentage loss of his contest career, and after Link was done wiping the floor with CATS, he went out and beat down Ganondorf with such force that CATS himself placed higher than Ganondorf in the unadjusted Xsts for 2004. Link then proved that he was all business in this contest, as he not only held Yoshi to under 20%, but proceeded to make Crono look like an absolute joke in the battle of the mute swordsman. Crono was beaten down so badly that by the end of the match, Crono was only able to do all of 2% better against Link than Magus. After brushing off Crono like a bad case of the fleas, Link then proceeded to not only beat down Mega Man in the Final Four, but he managed to give Mega Man a beating that many thought impossible to give. Link was a man possessed in the 2004 contest, but he wasn't quite done yet.

Link capped off his 2004 campaign by taking down the one character who was able to defeat him by beating Cloud himself in the final. Cloud gave it everything he had for the first few hours, but once the morning vote kicked in, Link was able to use the momentum from his own voting block to put Cloud away once and for all. By the end of the poll, Link was able to take down Cloud with 51.82% of the vote. It wasn't much, but it was larger than what Cloud was able to do in 2003. Link's mission was accomplished, and he was able to get his revenge on the one character who was able to beat him across three contests. The only thing left for Link to do now is to consider whether or not he has anything left to prove. There has been talk of Link retiring from the contests, simply because it has become fairly obvious that it takes a small miracle to even break 40% on him, let alone beat him. Two characters, and two characters only, have ever been able to even break 40% on Link: Cloud and Sephiroth. And Link has beaten them both.

Just to put Link's power into perspective, the next highest percentage that anyone has been able to manage on him after Cloud/Sephiroth is Samus Aran's 37.94% in 2003. Link is no longer a mere character among the field in these contests. He has grown to be damned-near untouchable, and the scariest part about Link is that he hasn't even reached his full potential yet. Once the new Zelda comes out, Link may very well grow powerful enough to render these contests target practice. He's arguably at that point already, which is why so many are considering taking both him and Cloud out of the contests. Link simply has too many solid games to draw popularity from, and no one else really stands much of a chance to beat him anymore.

But this is not necessarily a bad thing. When you grow powerful to the point of everyone wanting you gone, then there is no greater compliment. Should a Hall of Fame ever be created to retire contest winners, Link's name will undoubtedly be the highlight of the list. He deserves it, and has earned it with his performance.

Division 4 Round 1 --- 1st place, 103465 [70.50%] - Bidoof, 23419 [15.96%] - Miles Edgeworth, 13397 [9.13%] - Agent J, 6468 [4.41%]
Division 4 Round 2 --- 1st place, 74350 [51.19%] - Vincent Valentine, 40309 [27.75%] - Bidoof, 19278 [13.27%] - Princess Zelda, 11297 [7.78%]
Division 4 Finals --- 1st place, 64214 [45.37%] - Vincent Valentine, 30825 [21.78%] - Crono, 29123 [20.58%] - Zero, 17359 [12.27%]
Contest Quarterfinals --- 1st place, 52795 [36.42%] - Sephiroth, 45633 [31.48%] - Mario, 32239 [22.24%] - Vincent Valentine, 14277 [9.85%]
Contest Semifinals --- 1st place, 55996 [39.02%] - Cloud Strife, 40836 [28.46%] - Samus Aran, 24078 [16.78%] - Sephiroth, 22582 [15.74%]
Contest Finals --- 2nd place, 58100 [29.74%] - L-Block, 65462 [33.51%] - Cloud Strife, 47834 [24.49%] - Solid Snake, 23964 [12.27%]

Link looked as dominant as ever in his contest rampage in this contest...until the finals anyway. He broke a character contest record for most individual votes in a fourway match, as he scored over 70% there. I think he was purposefully put into the weakest fourpack imaginable just to see what he could do, and he did not disappoint. He dominated his division, never falling below 45% in three matches. Even when Cloud and Sephiroth came into the equation, they couldn't touch him. It took the incredible contest run of L-Block to put a stop to Link. Strangely enough, two of the three times that he has lost in these contests have been in unusual circumstances against a joke character. Perhaps that's his weakness.

-Ulti