Smash Favorite Polls
Over the summer I did a series of Twitter polls asking people who their favorite players of different characters were. Not the best, their favorites. This is a thing I did out of pure curiosity, because I sometimes think of what my answers would be and wonder how abnormal my preferences are. (Turns out they are, but not always where I expected.)
Some people have asked if I could do a post discussing the results, so here’s that.
Caveat: This is not hard science. These polls did not have significant sample sizes, and the self-selected population “Ian’s Twitter Followers” isn’t likely to represent the whole Smash community. (I have a statistically high number of SJW HBox fans, because that’s part of my brand.)
Criteria: I ran polls on half the tier list starting with Marth (#3) and ending with with Mario (#15). I didn’t bother with anyone below that because there aren’t many truly low-tier mains to choose between, and, well, I can’t say I’m that curious who the three favorite Roy players are. I skipped Fox and Falco because fuck space animals. I also threw in a few extra questions I was curious about, which we’ll get to.
Anyhoo, here are the results.
Marth
Winner: Mew2King
Total Votes: 82
Correct Answer: PPMD
Write-Ins: Ken
Link to Poll: https://twitter.com/InnuendoStudios/status/870316744925208577
I was very surprised by the lack of love for PewPewU in this one. PPMD had been inactive for almost two years at the time of the poll and still wildly outperformed PewPewU. I can’t really blame folks, as I like PewPewU a lot but would still pick both PPMD and M2K before him. I wonder if PewPewU, being the perennial 9th place finisher, is also the perennial second-favorite Marth; he might do better in a runoff vote where he would get points for being a second favorite. As it stands, you only get points for being first, and he’s not many peoples’ fave.
Sheik
Winner: Plup
Total Votes: 50
Correct Answer: Kirbykaze
Write-Ins: Amsah
Link to Poll: https://twitter.com/InnuendoStudios/status/870756094435622913
Plup took first, but another strong showing for M2K. I figured if we were asking for favorite players, not best players, that we’d see greater preference for flashiness, but M2K’s defensive, optimized play keeps performing well. Then again, it’s my theory that M2K is the beating heart of the Melee scene, so maybe personality trumps play style. (The write in for Amsah was from me; he’ll always be #1 in my heart but there wasn’t room for him in the poll.)
Jigglypuff
Winner: Hungrybox
Total Votes: 95
Correct Answer: Hungrybox
Write-Ins: Zasa, Tekk, s0ft
Link to Poll: https://twitter.com/InnuendoStudios/status/871189445038546945
HBox took first place, and “I’m a jerk who hates Puff” took second, with Prince Abu and 4% tying for third with only 9% each. If you like Puff at all, there’s no reason you wouldn’t like HBox the most, and I’m frankly surprised “Hates Puff” didn’t win by a landslide. My followers are good like that. Notably, one of the highest voter turnouts of the whole endeavor, which will become a theme.
Peach
Winner: Armada
Total Votes: 59
Correct Answer: Armada
Write-Ins: Freeze
Link to Poll: https://twitter.com/InnuendoStudios/status/872079889326886914
In my heart of hearts, the correct answer is Milktea, but far more for admiring the person than for her play style. (There aren’t many surviving videos of Milktea in her prime, so I’m not even familiar with her style.) Of the people who actually made the poll, there wasn’t really a contest. (I think the write-in “Freeze” is a “freeze peach” joke. Right? I’m right, aren’t I?)
Ice Climbers
Winner: Wobbles
Total Votes: 105
Correct Answer: Wobbles
Write-Ins: Drunksloth
Link to Poll: https://twitter.com/InnuendoStudios/status/872870056581111809
Between this and the Jigglypuff poll, I notice that the characters who are “ruining Smash“ tend to get the highest voter turnout, and the players most associated with that character won both polls. Fly Amanita’s rep for being the “only cool IC” didn’t rescue him from fourth place, getting outranked by noted pariah Nintendude, who nearly tied with fan favorite ChuDat. Not sure if my followers are just weirdos or if the idea that Chu is beloved and ICs are otherwise despised is somewhat distorted.
Captain Falcon
Winner: S2J
Total Votes: 61
Correct Answer: Jeapie
Write-Ins: Isai, Hax, Scar
Link to Poll: https://twitter.com/InnuendoStudios/status/872870056581111809
One of the tighter races, S2J only barely edging out Wizzrobe. (So, again, a solid performance from a player who’s supposedly making the game not fun.) Jeapie getting only 6% is a goddamn travesty. Thought n0ne would do better here, he’s supposed to be the fan favorite. Anyway, West Coast wins out over 20GX, but not by much.
Mid-Tier Mains (Pikachu vs. Yoshi)
Winner: aMSa
Total Votes: 69 (nice)
Correct Answer: Axe
Write-Ins: Leffen’s MewTwo
Link to Poll: https://twitter.com/InnuendoStudios/status/873306882550763521
There aren’t enough noteworthy Pikachu or Yoshi mains to make either poll worth doing, so I just pitted aMSa and Axe against each other. I’m punching my chad for Axe, but I feel like death about it. This is a poll where the only correct move is not to play. For write-ins, people tried to vote Abate and A Rookie, but I’m disqualifying them because they appear in the Luigi and Mario polls later on. Should technically disqualify Leffen as well, but there wasn’t room for him in the Pocket Low-Tier poll downthread so I'm letting him hang out here.
Samus
Winner: Plup
Total Votes: 55
Correct Answer: ESAM
Write-Ins: none (not n0ne, just... no write-ins)
Link to Poll: https://twitter.com/InnuendoStudios/status/873674261701033984
Plup wins again! First person to win two polls. Duck and Hugs dead-even at 2nd with 27% each. ESAM comes in last because people have no souls. Some debate in the comments about whether or not Samus is fun to watch. (Someone says she isn’t, but they are wrong.)
Luigi
Winner: Abate
Total Votes: 39
Correct Answer: Eddy Mexico
Write-Ins: Ka-master, Luigikid
Link to Poll: https://twitter.com/InnuendoStudios/status/874040581311352833
Only put two players on this poll, since I knew one or the other would win. Maybe I’m just being contrarian by stumping for Eddy Mexico over Abate, as both are excellent players and I root for either one easily. Abate only one by a small margin, anyway, so seems people are about as split as I am. Starting to see a drop-off in voter turnout as we get lower in the tier list.
Ganon
Winner: Bizarro Flame
Total Votes: 38
Correct Answer: Bizarro Flame
Write-Ins: n0ne, Lythero
Link to Poll: https://twitter.com/InnuendoStudios/status/874672698194046978
This, at least, makes sense to me. Bizz won in a landslide. I mean, that’s how I would vote as well, though I wish Kage had made a stronger showing in second. Eikelmann manages the only 0% of all the polls. Someone in the comments argued that n0ne’s Ganon secondary is arguably the best Ganon, period, calling him “a more toned down version of everything bizz wants to do.” I don’t really disagree, though it seemed like cheating throw secondaries in against mains. That said, Kage still consistently beats n0ne in Ganon dittos, so n0ne having the best play style is still theoretical.
Mario
Winner: Scorpion Master
Total Votes: 60
Correct Answer: A Rookie
Write-Ins: none (again, not n0ne, even though his Mario is very good)
Link to Poll: https://twitter.com/InnuendoStudios/status/875146202827849728
The only appearance of Mango in this entire endeavor and he beats out A Rookie. I expected better of you people.
Pocket Low-Tiers
Winner: Plup
Total Votes: 57
Correct Answer: Axe
Write-Ins: Westballz, Leffen
Link to Poll: https://twitter.com/InnuendoStudios/status/875834490404392960
OK, I’m sorry, but this is nonsense. Plup decided to main Luigi at CEO Dreamland in April (probably as a joke) and took 5th place, above PewPewU, Axe, Duck, The Moon, n0ne, and MacD. The highest ranking actual Luigi main was in 25th. And that’s impressive, I’m not denying that. But did anyone even know he had a Luigi before that? And already you like his Luigi more than Axe’s Young Link, Hungrybox’s Ness, and n0ne’s Ganon? Are you serious with this shit? I wanna re-run this poll when Plup’s Luigi isn’t The New Hotness and see how he stacks up, because this is silly. I mean, have you seen Axe’s Young Link??? Have you seen HBox’s Ness??? People wrote in Westballz’ Donkey Kong and even that makes more sense. Anyway, hooray, Plup wins three polls and is clearly the hands-down fan favorite who isn’t Mango. You’re all on notice.
Main You Miss The Most
Winner: Hax
Total Votes: 63
Correct Answer: Hax
Write-Ins: Plup’s Samus (disqualified)
Link to Poll: https://twitter.com/InnuendoStudios/status/876440529021566976
Hax’s Captain Falcon is the right answer here, though the few random times he’s brought out the Falcon in tournament have not gone well for him. I think, at this point, people just wanna see Hax play anyone. Mango’s Jigglypuff outperformed Shroomed’s Dr. Mario, which... again... what is wrong with people?
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