King of /v/ 2024

King of /v/ 2024

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King of /v/ 2024 is the sixth edition of the annual King of /v/ tournament. It started at 7:00 PM EST on December 6th, 2024.

The Elite Eight for this tournament brought back five returning men from previous iterations, making it the current most for King of /v/ as a whole. These characters included JC Denton from both 2020 and 2022, Raiden and Jetstream Sam from 2020, and AM and Luigi from 2022. The three newcomers joining them were all by chance from platformers, namely Dr. Neo Cortex from Crash Bandicoot, Shadow the Hedgehog from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and Peppino from Pizza Tower. Despite a mostly strong reception toward the top sixteen, the Elite Eight line-up did get some more polarized responses immediately after it was revealed. Despite this, several strong campaigns were present among this line-up. A particular standout was Jetstream Sam, whose own tournament presence went off the rails after an anon accidentally posted like he was having a stroke and caused an insane chain of reactions afterwards. One of the most prominent moments of the entire tournament was when one anon created tournament lore around his soul being split into seven fragments, later seen as equivalents to the Chaos Emeralds. While all three lost in the fourth round, Regigigas, Doomguy, and Wario's runs were all highly regarded. More than any prior tournament to date, a lot of attention was also generated around certain side tournament contestants, particularly in the barred tournament. This climaxed with Ichiro Dazai and the Grox's finals match in Barred from King, which was considered a huge highlight for many anons.

Despite not being seen as a serious contender by many anons going into the tournament, Shadow would end up pulling off one of the most active campaigns of the year as soon as the first round. It largely embraced Shadow's classic online reception in full earnest and earned a lot of attention from the high effort behind certain OC. This was further fueled by notable matches against tournament powerhouses like Regigigas, AM, and Sam. On the opposite end of this, some anons had been either pushing or expecting a more classic option (likely returning in the Elite Eight) to win the tournament. After a close battle with Raiden, JC ended up coming out as a standout. This all culminated in JC Denton and Shadow battling it out hard in the finals after both largely dominating prior opponents. Despite putting the biggest dent of the whole tournament on him, JC would end up losing to Shadow's sheer hype in the end. Shadow himself was largely well-received as a winner, though he did receive some vocal criticism towards either the character himself, the favorable timing of Shadow Generations and the then-upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie both releasing around the tournament, or his snub of a character with more prior tournament presence finally winning. Despite all that, his campaign was very well-regarded by nearly all anons participating in the tournament. Shadow is the first Sega winner in any /v/ tournament, the first platformer character to win King of /v/, and (by two months over Dante) either the oldest or second oldest king thus far depending on how Jack Garland is treated against his original incarnation. Furthermore, Shadow managed to outspeed two-time finalist Dr. Eggman to become the first winner from his series, with quite a few anons ready to point this out after the fact.

Reception towards the tournament has thus far largely been good to average. Some either disliked certain key results or expressed that King of /v/'s trends had started to grow too cliché, though most anons asked on opinions still had fun with the tournament. It was a wider consensus that the tournament ended up better than Queen of /v/ the prior month.

Rules

How to nominate

• Character must appear in a video game (vidya)
• You must post the image, type the character name AND the correct series name (e.g. [I nominate] Link from Legend of Zelda)
• 10 replies / (You)s are needed in a single thread to qualify as a nominee.
• One nominee per post only
• Check the nomination list (Ctrl+F, click the "three vertical dots" icon, and enter character name) to see if your guy is already nominated

Character / series eligibility

• FOTM Clause: Characters who first appeared at the month before the start of this contest (November 01 and later) are banned.
• Visual novels / eroge games / galgames are allowed
• Characters debuting in a game that is part of a non-vidya / multimedia franchise are accepted
• Characters debuting in non-vidya media that is part of an established vidya franchise are accepted. Limited to 3 characters only in the bracket.
• Characters who are not male/female or whose gender is unknown are eligible for both Queen and King tournaments, but if they appear in the main bracket in the Queen contest, they will be ineligible for nomination in King (and vice versa).
• Spinoffs and crossovers are counted as separate series. This rule mainly applies to characters debuting and/or are better known from said series.
  • However, if a given character has previously appeared in another game prior to being featured in a spinoff/crossover/guest appearance, they will be entered under their original series whenever the host deems it convenient.
• No real-life people allowed
• No fan-made characters, including memes, OCs and custom characters
• No inanimate objects (e.g. L-Block, Ebony & Ivory)

Grandfather Clause

After constant debate over the whitelist clause enacted in the past couple years, anons voted in qualifiers on how to move forward. In the end, it was decided it would be overwritten with a Grandfather Clause matching Mr. and Ms. /co/. This is a list of characters who break at least one of the above rules, but qualify for making previous tournaments.

• All Winnie the Pooh's Home Run Derby characters
• All Vocaloid characters
• Pepsiman from Pepsiman
• Geralt from The Witcher
• Sam from Sam & Max
• Max from Sam & Max
• AM from I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream
• The Nerd from The Angry Video Game Nerd
• Tony Hawk from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
• Mike Tyson from Punch-Out!!

Out of these, Christopher Robin, Pepsiman, Geralt, AM, and the Angry Video Game Nerd all managed to return to the bracket.

Elite Eight Clause

Characters who reached the Elite Eight of the previous tournament are temporarily ineligible this year; they will be eligible for nomination next contest.

2023 Elite Eight (Will be eligible next contest)
2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
Dr. Eggman	John Ward	Demi-fiend	Scout	Solid Snake	Kazuma Kiryu	Rayman
Sonic the Hedgehog	FAITH	Shin Megami Tensei	Team Fortress 2	Metal Gear	Yakuza	Rayman

Tournament champions, on the other hand, are permanently retired and will be banned for future editions.

King of /v/alhalla (PERMANENTLY RETIRED)
2019							2020							2021							2022							2023
Senator Armstrong							Dante							The Batter							Jack Garland							Grimm
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance							Devil May Cry							OFF							Final Fantasy							Black Souls

No Double Duty Clause

Characters who are eligible for both tournaments cannot be nominated here if they previously appeared in Queen of /v/ 2024's bracket:

• Baba

• Gardevoir

• Pyro

• Bazz

Voting policy

All rounds last 24 hours starting from the first relevant thread posted. Countdowns via the its.almo.st website will be provided by the host.

Starting from the qualifiers, all polls and results will be held in Google Polls. A Gmail account is needed to access the voting form. Emails will not be visible to the host and other users. Before voting, a user must answer a question related to 4chan board culture and tournament history, and must fulfill a CAPTCHA test before they can submit their votes. A user can change their choices at any time before the round ends; this is to allow campaigns like fan arts, voice recordings, video edits, songs, and poetry to convince someone to change their mind.

In the main bracket rounds, you must vote for all matches.

Qualifying round

Live nomination list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iyEvhCLdHgBoPaFf8TzA79wqPcHRqegR7evnMvH4q6o/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Qualifier Results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1u6lzwJZT2AIaoDHO1rbq-wGYJd6x-0KKKf8iOQFlIKc/edit?gid=71392325#gid=71392325

Any successful nominees will be consolidated into a single massive group where voters select the guys that they want to advance. There is no restriction on how many guys they can select. This format is called Approval voting. After the round ends, 128 guys with the most votes will advance into the bracket. Ties are broken by whoever gets properly nominated earlier.

A total of 1556 guys were nominated, the most of any tournament to date. A maximum of 3 guys per series can enter the bracket.

Advanced

Bold text indicates character who appears in the bracket for the first time.

Qualifiers link: Original Qualifiers Form

Advanced to Main Bracket (128)
#	Character Name	Franchise / Series	Votes
01	Phoenix Wright	Ace Attorney	241
02	Miles Edgeworth	Ace Attorney	219
03	AM	IHNMAIMS	203
04	Peppino	Pizza Tower	202
05	JC Denton	Deus Ex	198
06	Doomguy	Doom
07	Gordon Freeman	Half-Life	197
08	G-Man	Half-Life	196
09	Shadow the Hedgehog	Sonic the Hedgehog	193
10	Heavy	Team Fortress 2	191
11	Sonic the Hedgehog	Sonic the Hedgehog	187
12	Duke Nukem	Duke Nukem	187
13	Vergil	Devil May Cry	186
14	Agent 47	Hitman	183
15	King Dedede	Kirby
16	Spy	Team Fortress 2	180
17	Regigigas	Pokémon	178
18	Jetstream Sam	Metal Gear	175
19	Raiden	Metal Gear
20	Pepsiman	Pepsiman	173
21	Coach	Left 4 Dead	172
22	Bowser	Mario
23	Mario	Mario	171
24	Simon Belmont	Castlevania	170
25	Kirby	Kirby
26	Revolver Ocelot	Metal Gear
27	N	Pokémon	168
28	Wario	Wario
29	Link	The Legend of Zelda	166
30	Dracula	Castlevania	165
31	Travis Touchdown	No More Heroes
32	The Nerd	Castlevania	161
33	Banjo	Banjo-Kazooie	160
34	Battler Ushiromiya	Umineko	159
35	Alucard	Castlevania	158
36	Soldier	Team Fortress 2
37	Spamton	Deltarune	157
38	Donkey Kong	Donkey Kong	155
39	Father Garcia	FAITH	152
40	Impostor	Among Us	151
41	Brad Armstrong	LISA	150
42	Harry Du Bois	Disco Elysium	149
43	Sans	Undertale
44	Luigi	Mario	148
45	Frog	Chrono Trigger	147
46	The Knight	Hollow Knight
47	Jacket	Hotline Miami	146
48	Isaac Clarke	Dead Space	145
49	Meta Knight	Kirby	143
50	Ridley	Metroid
51	Giygas	EarthBound	142
52	Neo Cortex	Crash Bandicoot	141
53	Alex Eggleston	YIIK
54	HUNK	Resident Evil	140
55	Leon Kennedy	Resident Evil
56	Big Smoke	Grand Theft Auto	139
57	Mega Man	Mega Man
58	James Sunderland	Silent Hill 2
59	The Narrator	Slay The Princess	138
60	Tohru Adachi	Persona	136
61	The Long Quiet	Slay The Princess	135
62	Ness	EarthBound	134
63	Pit	Kid Icarus
64	Crono	Chrono Trigger	133
65	Funky Kong	Donkey Kong
66	Cave Johnson	Portal
67	King K Rool	Donkey Kong	132
68	Quote	Cave Story	131
69	Steve	Minecraft	130
70	Papyrus	Undertale
71	Christopher Robin	Winnie The Pooh Home Run Derby	129
72	Pac-Man	Pac-Man	128
73	Dick Gumshoe	Ace Attorney	127
74	Tom Nook	Animal Crossing
75	Postal Dude	Postal
76	CJ	Grand Theft Auto	126
77	Little Mac	Punch-Out!
78	Ganon	The Legend of Zelda
79	Ao Oni	Ao Oni	125
80	Nero	Devil May Cry
81	Frank West	Dead Rising	124
82	Charles	Mafia City
83	Ellis	Left 4 Dead	122
84	Nick	Left 4 Dead
85	Roland	Library of Ruina
86	Wheatley	Portal
87	Crash Bandicoot	Crash Bandicoot	121
88	Cuphead	Cuphead
89	Combine Officer	Half-Life
90	Patches	Dark Souls	120
91	Joshua Graham	Fallout
92	X	Mega Man
93	Jack Frost	Shin Megami Tensei
94	Artorias	Dark Souls	119
95	Sekiro	Sekiro
96	Big Daddy	Bioshock	118
97	Johnny Cage	Mortal Combat
98	Geralt of Rivia	The Witcher
99	The Hunter	Bloodborne	116
100	Freddy Fazbear	Five Nights at Freddy's
101	Red Pikmin	Pikmin
102	Typhlosion	Pokemon
103	Fox McCloud	Star Fox
104	Andrew Graves	The Coffin of Andy and Leyley
105	Conker	Conker's Bad Fur Day	115
106	Waluigi	Mario
107	Asura	Asura's Wrath	114
108	Master Chief	Halo
109	Nyarlathotep	Persona
110	Morshu	The Legend of Zelda
111	King Dice	Cuphead	112
112	Earthworm Jim	Earthworm Jim
113	Isaac	The Binding of Isaac
114	Ancestor	Darkest Dungeon	111
115	Captain Falcon	F-Zero
116	Missile	Ghost Trick
117	Albert Wesker	Resident Evil
118	Metal Sonic	Sonic the Hedgehog
119	Sephiroth	Final Fantasy	110
120	Dagoth Ur	The Elder Scrolls
121	Grand Dad	7 Grand Dad	109
122	Nagito Komaeda	Danganronpa
123	William Afton	Five Nights at Freddy's
124	Gex	Gex
125	Sissel	Ghost Trick
126	Rando Armstrong	LISA
127	Crazy Dave	Plants vs Zombies
128	Shovel Knight	Shovel Knight

Tournament Format

Full bracket

Format: 128 characters, single-elimination bracket. 7 rounds, 7 days. Characters are seeded based on their rankings in the qualifying poll, but this doesn't affect the randomized bracket.

• Each round lasts 24 hours after the link to the poll was posted. Countdowns are provided by the its.almo.st website.
• If a match is tied in votes, the better-seeded contestant advances. If a tie occurs in the final, an extra runoff vote is held instead.
• All guys who reach at least quarter-finals will be granted Elite Eight status, making them temporarily ineligible for King of /v/ 2025.
• Losers of the quarter-finals will play a 4-way consolation match in order to rank from 5th-8th. This will take place during the semi-finals.
• Semi-final losers will play each other at the final round to decide 3rd place.
• Lastly, the winner of the final match will ascend into /v/alhalla as the 2024 King of /v/, and will permanently retire from the tournament.

Voting policy:

• You must log-in to a Gmail account in order to vote. All emails will be anonymous to the organizer and other voters.
• You must answer one or more questions related to 4chan and /v/ culture before you can access the voting form.
• You must vote on all match-ups. In other words, no abstaining.
• You can change your votes at any time.
• You must answer one or more Captchas before you can submit your votes.

Tournament Bracket

Google Polls Results: Round 1 – Round 2 – Round 3 – Round 4 – Quarterfinals – Semi-Finals – Finals

Responses per Round: 926 > 831 > 746 > 859 > 831 > 880 > 1030

Challonge Link: https://challonge.com/KingV2024