OPERATION MADNESS: RPG Villain Tournament—Round 1

Not sure how many of you have noticed this, but the group names have all had something to do with the top seed. Hironobu Sakaguchi was the man behind Final Fantasy, eventually becoming producer of the series before leaving Square (now Square Enix). Akira Toriyama was the character designer for Chrono Trigger. Nobuo Uematsu was the composer for most of the early Final Fantasy games, with his themes still being used to this day. And Shigesato Itoi was the creator of the Mother series, which brings us the final number-1 seed for the tournament…

Giygas—Mother Series

He has been described as the “embodiment of evil.” Not many can understand his true power…or even his true form. This demented villain will begin his march towards domination against the ruthless Conrad Marburg from Alpha Protocol.

The 8th seed for the Itoi grouping is Lilith, the shape-shifting demon from Shin Megami Tensei. She was a winner already as our 2013 Villain of the Year. She’ll continue to assert her dominance in her opening battle with the gloating Tri-Edge from .hack//G.U..

From one of the staff’s favorite PlayStation games, Final Fantasy IX, comes one of its best villains at number 5, General Beatrix. She’ll be up against Mankar Camoran, the leader of the Mythic Dawn from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

At the 4th seed is Lynx from Chrono Cross, one of the few characters in this tournament who have gone from antagonists to support characters for the protagonist. He’ll be up against the Venus Adept Felix from Golden Sun. It should be noted that this is for his time in the original game as a loyal follower of Saturos and not for his work in The Lost Age when he was a protagonist.

Moving on, at the 6th seed, we have Golbez, a sorcerer from Final Fantasy IV. He’s looking to confront the unstable Albedo Piazzolla from Xenosaga.

At the 3rd seed, we have Vandesdelca Musto Fende, also known as Van Grants, from Tales of the Abyss. The God-General leader is looking to resonate with voters as he takes on Bishop Ladja from Dragon Quest V.

At the 7th seed, we have the Axem Rangers, the second nominee from Super Mario RPG. The Rangers will be looking to cause disorder they face off against someone who knows a bit about winning tournaments: Michael Jordan from Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden.

And finally, the number-2 seed for the Itoi group is Sovereign, the Reaper from the original Mass Effect. Sovereign’s opponent will be President John Henry Eden from Fallout 3.

And that is the 64-member field for our RPG Villain tournament. You have until Sunday night to vote on the first round. After that, we will close the polls and get ready for the next round.

And if you’re looking for more opportunities to let your voice be heard, check out the readers’ poll for the top 10 GBA games you want to see on the Wii U Virtual Console.