And so it begins! After smashing their way through the preliminary voting, characters such as Professor Layton, Robin, Fawful, Porky Minch, and Gordon Freeman all take part in Round 1, alongside many others! None of the matchups this round look too special; none of them seem, at first glance, to contain a character that stands a chance of utterly slamming their opponent (aside from perhaps Luigi, Samus, and GLaDOS).

As usual, I have both a picture bracket AND a text bracket for you all - click the picture to see an even larger version!

The text bracket:

HEROES

#1 Luigi (Super Mario) vs #16 Zero (Mega Man)

#2 Samus Aran (Metroid) vs #15 John Marston (Red Dead Redemption)

#3 Pit (Kid Icarus) vs #14 Bartz Klauser (Final Fantasy)

#4 Link (The Legend of Zelda) vs #13 Richard Conway (Gunpoint)

#5 Mega Man (Mega Man) vs #12 Captain Falcon (F-Zero)

#6 Star Killer (Star Wars) vs #11 Gordon Freeman (Half-Life)

#7 Agnes Oblige (Bravely Default) vs #10 Robin (Fire Emblem)

#8 Lucas (Mother/Earthbound) vs #9 Professor Layton (Professor Layton)

VILLAINS

#1 Hades (Kid Icarus) vs #16 Cyrus (Pokemon)

#2 GLaDOS (Portal) vs #15 Sephiroth (Final Fantasy)

#3 Ganondorf (The Legend of Zelda) vs #14 Comstock (Bioshock)

#4 Ridley (Metroid) vs #13 Grima (Fire Emblem)

#5 Black Shadow (F-Zero) vs #12 Majora (The Legend of Zelda)

#6 Fawful (Super Mario) vs #11 The Gentleman (Monaco)

#7 Porky Minch (Mother/Earthbound) vs #10 Darth Malak (Star Wars)

#8 Master Hand (Super Smash Bros.) vs #9 Ghetsis (Pokemon)

As always, you can vote for one character in each matchup! Voting for this round will be open for two days. Let's get everybody to vote!

My votes are:

Heroes

#1 Luigi

#2 Samus Aran

#3 Pit

#13 Richard Conway

#5 Mega Man

#11 Gordon Freeman

#7 Agnes Oblige

#9 Professor Layton

Villains

#1 Hades

#2 GLaDOS

#3 Ganondorf

#4 Ridley

#12 Majora

#6 Fawful

#10 Darth Malak

#8 Master Hand