I've been rewatching what I feel is the zenith of This is the Run, Contra: Hard Corps. I remember internally debating whether Dan or Vinny was the best Contra player and settling on Vinny, but rewatching it, I think there's arguments for both. So let's do exactly that!

Arguments for Vinny

• Beat the game without using Browny

• Survived to the end of the game and beat it without Browny's help at the final boss

• Figured out some bosses much faster than Dan

• Only really needed one weapon and didn't rely on homing all the time

• Way less likely to freak out when a boss did something unexpected

• More often figured out boss strategies before Dan

• Mastered the slide way before Dan did

• Rage quit less often

• Didn't need a six-button controller

• In most non-stage boss cases, when Dan died and Vinny was left on his own, Vinny was able to overcome the obstacle they were on.

Arguments against Vinny

• Would pretty consistently die in the same places
• More likely to forget things episode-to-episode, like where the mid-boss robot in level 1 would pop-out
• "Slide don't jump" didn't work on as many things as Vinny thought it did
• Stubbornly stuck to Sheena just for her A shot when he hated all the other weapons
• Didn't understand how to use any of the other weapons and just wrote them off as bad
• Never mastered the Shot I/Shot II thing and often died because of it
• Straight up never figured out how to deal with the helicopter
• Often died to platforming hazards
• Sometimes got hit because he was trying to match Dan's timing on jumps even though Dan could double jump
• Would lose his cool and just panic against certain bosses, like the scientist's chimera
• Never mastered sliding against Noiman's T-attack

Arguments for Dan

• Had better twitch reactions and aiming
• Had a much better handle on Shot I and Shot II
• Picked a character with the best advantages and called dibs immediately
• Successfully convinced Vinny he should claim most of the weapons
• Figured out the hallway sections and how you should just keep moving
• Generally able to vocalize boss strategies that work
• Rarely died to platforming hazards
• Was able to discern the best weapon for each boss from Browny's armory
• Never thought a path was too hard, only that they hadn't figured it out yet.
• Tended to remember things better episode-to-episode.
• Figured out Noiman's T-attack with sliding and using invulnerability frames

Arguments Against Dan

• Chose a punk-ass easy mode character. At the end of the day they were both trying to win together, but in an argument about which one is better, this one factors in.
• Was entirely to blame for some simple deaths, like shooting the dinosaur's nose.
• Got extremely cocky about Browny's advantages and died often, ex. standing behind the enemy robot in the jungle and assuming he just couldn't be hit.
• Was convinced every single one of Browny's weapons was better than anything someone else could have, even when that wasn't the case.
• Did not once in the entire series correctly choose a path without pausing the game in the selection menu.
• Never had to time jumping because Browny had a double jump
• Had a six-button controller and Browny and yet still did not do obviously better
• In most non-stage boss cases, when Vinny died and Dan was left to his own devices, he rarely beat the obstacle they were on.
• Completely unwilling to experiment with other characters or weapons when he thinks he has it figured out
• Also never figured out the helicopter
• Would lose his cool and panic against certain bosses, like the dolphin robot
• Never really mastered sliding as well as Vinny and would just jump over things better-suited for sliding through them

Any arguments I missed? Who do you think came out of that as the best Contra: Hard Corps Expert-Master?