Lurker > PIayer_0

Gallant Gunshot
resurrectedreplayer
Vrdels

Duality has an awesome intro, I actually really like everything in the first 1:24, but then the chorus doesn't hit as hard as I'd like. Also 0:19 activates the IDOLA The Strange Fruits nerve in my brain every time lol

---

-Abraham Lincoln

The Shackled Wolves (Rain)
IMAGE -MATERIAL- <Version 0>
Paradise (Stay Forever)

Paradise was one of those songs where I discovered it and thought "This will probably come up in my VGM communities later," so I was careful not to listen to it too much for fear of it becoming stale! Very happy to see it again after the SupraDarky awards and hope it can go far without beating up Threat too badly - my second favourite song remaining after Apex of the World!

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Vrdels
Mikazuchi
Vast Ice Mountain Peak

Temporal Tower will always be my first love, but I've come to appreciate VIMP to the point that it finally made it onto my "Good PMD2 songs" playlist this year! The part that leads right into the loop is probably my favourite.

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Anka
Bound Together
Pioneer's Horizon

Bound Together is a great song for getting people to check out your game! I was surprised it was the credits song, the mood feels a bit...light and I thought it would've been perfect as a main theme you hear at the title screen or opening cutscene, with motifs that show up in the rest of the soundtrack! Maybe the lyrics have too many spoilers though...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

DigiFamily
City Ruins (Rays of Light)
Breath of Forest

I still remember Vertigo and Continue That Future were my favourites from deo's first 5 noms! 1:30-1:43 is really pretty and still stuck in my head as I write this, unfortunately it's against one of my favourite Nier Automata songs (certainly one I like better than A Beautiful Song)

---

-Abraham Lincoln

just as planned

---

-Abraham Lincoln

This is the part where I sneakily edit my post to say Ys instead

---

-Abraham Lincoln

rhythm-changer
Pioneer's Horizon
Valestein Castle

I remember after the bracket came out I kept hearing 0:25 of Valestein Castle in my head but could not for the life of me figure out which song it was! The punchy snare really carries this track, but why do Falcom dungeon themes always sound like battle themes...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

La Mer
The Best Is Yet To Come
Katamaritaino (Roll Me In)

I'm sorry Return to Oblivion! This song has really come to grow on me with its catchy EDM elements like the synth chords, drum pattern, and bass line. The verses where she sings with a regular solo voice are my favourite, 1:07 and 3:36 are bigger climaxes to me than anything else in the song!

Also sorry to Chrono Trigger I guess, I finished what I think is the first chapter since last round (just got sentenced to execution after an amusing trial) but not really feeling the attachment quite yet...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Immanence
Stella -Part 2-
Full Steam Ahead

I keep reading these Tatsh and Taishi song names and my brain plays Apocalypse ~dirge of swans~ for some reason, so now I wish that was in the bracket! I think Immanence places in the middle of the three behind IMAGE -MATERIAL- because...it feels like it drags too long even though IMAGE -MATERIAL- is actually longer? 5:18 is real good though!

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Unknown Pollution
Id (Purpose)
Fateful Confrontation

I figured out which Unknown Pollution moment makes me think of Deoxyribose! The electric guitar at 1:09 is very close in sound to Deoxyribose's 4:42, and they even start with similar melodic shapes! The aggressive bass sounds are also part of it, but it's only at that guitar moment when the patterns click in my brain. It's a great track, beats out Apostle's Maraud for me but probably not Deoxyribose.

---

-Abraham Lincoln

BWLAUTE BEIRRD
Octopunch
Apex of the World (Rain)

I went looking for a concertina a few weeks ago just so I could play Octopunch on it (full-size accordions are too bulky man). 0:40 is a great melody and it blends wonderfully with the bell-like instrument there to almost sound like a whole new instrument! In the end, I only ended up getting a penny whistle for cheap, but I'll get my concertina and learn Octopunch on it one day...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Dreamy and Boisterous Holy Land
Tellur Town (Autumn)
Gentle Slope Cave

As someone who doesn't listen to progressive rock at all (like, I don't think I've ever heard a Pink Floyd song in full), DreamBoisterous is basically how I've always imagined prog rock haha. Weirdly, the intro is consistently my favourite part but the rest of the song is of course. Not sure if it beats out Masquerade of Lies yet...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Subuta.1
Unrest - The End of the Raging Waves
Stay Gold

Damn you Stay Gold for making me vote against Wheels of Aurelia and now Beyond the Bounds...this song's grown stronger for me with each appearance since the SupraDarky 2020 awards. Some small things will randomly bother me, but 3:10 and then 3:23 really make the rest of the song worth it!

---

-Abraham Lincoln

The Butterfly's Temptation
The Explosion
Pressure Cooker

First time ever voting for a VVVVVV song! I don't know how this soundtrack does so well here, but I can say that Pressure Cooker gets more stuck in my head every time hear it - this may be start of my conversion! 1:59 has always been a really nice section.

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Oh ya let's go Ryoshima, this is way better than earning a bye + losing 21-24 to Distorted Happiness in 13...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

One Night in Neo Kobe City
Fogbeasts
Glessing Way!

Glessing Way a strong contender for my favourite Falcom rock in the contest along with Dreamy/Boisterous and Rocky Path! Best parts are all the ones with orchestra hits. I can't find anything on glessing being a real word besides a surname, so my mind always parses it as glade + clearing and I imagine a patch of greenery in a forest. Also it sounds kinda Celtic/Gaelic (apparently gless can replace glass in Scots) which I also associate with green pastures and such...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

[VGMC] Day 187! Beard the Lion vs. Beard the Lion Evo

---

-Abraham Lincoln

RFTM > GSC, Stella < BlackRock, Threat < Rocky Path, and World's End < Besaid are all pretty interesting to see! That last one has the song positions swapped in the sheet but I don't think it breaks anything.

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Ryoshima Coast
Impossible Worlds
Rose-Killing Carmilla

Whoa...I think hearing Anka in bracket C and liking it has made me appreciate Impossible Worlds more. Now I don't feel bad at all that it beat Jungle Dragon by 10! It also has one of my favourite music+song title+video thumbnail packages in the contest.

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Today was truly the day when GameBopAdv became Kopazzynth...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

We've finished up round 1 which means it's time for some stats! If you've been keeping up with Haste's compatibility sheet, I also host a page that visualizes compatibilities in a graph showing groups and networks among multiple people! Check it out: https://p0p0p0p.github.io/src/vgmc15/bracket.html

Hover your mouse over someone to highlight their connections; hold down the button to drag them around! Scrolling to zoom works too.

You can play around with controls at the top:

• Min. compatibility % decides which links should be shown or hidden
• Min. participation % decides which users show up
• Spring physics tweaks how the links are simulated
• Show all #1 links connects everyone to their top compatibility

Let's have a look at the most tight-knit groups formed by our first 128 matches! These are with a min. participation of 80%:

Only two groups have the distinction of having everyone be at least 75% compatible with each other! Collen-Gamebop-hotdog is a familiar set from last year, and even more impressive is the CHz-sergio-Haste-kao-cako-Tox hexagram! Add Place in there and everyone still has 72% with each other?!?


lem-xp-TRE-Snajed is also full of 70s, just missing Snajed-xp at 68.0. There's also lem-Janus-Dire, and while both groups are connected by lem they're also different enough that you have to go down to 68.0 to add another link between Snajed and Dire!

Here's the "GameFAQs old men" bloc, with a combined karma of over 17,000!!! Hey, why aren't TRE and xp in here...

And finally, if you need someone to bet on matches for you, just leave it to NFUN and R-Man!

I'm very interested in looking at which matches keep these groups together, but also which matches split them down the middle - more on that coming this weekend! In the meantime, enjoy playing around with the graph and finding your voting friends or other patterns! I'm going to keep the data at 128 matches for a week or two, and then I'll start updating with Haste's data every weekend-ish. Next feature will be a toggle to hide the RESULTS node...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

The Rain Formerly Known As Purple
Heartless Being
Class::CIEL_N_PROTECTA;

I remember being bothered by the monotone chanting in CIEL_N_PROTECTA the first time, if I keep getting more accustomed to it it'll earn an easy spot among my favourite Exa Pico songs! It's a better Yoshino Nanjo song than EXPAJA from last year at least. Sorry Foregone Destruction...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Hmm, I wonder if the topic title will have enough room for exclamation marks in later rounds...

Nefertiti (Ver.MMXI)
linkage-alter
Soaring Through Azure Sadness

Hell yeah, if there was any exhaustionexhaustionexhaustion remaining from round 1, Nefertiti is the perfect banger (shredder?) to bring me right back into contest hype! Weirdly, I always prefer the main melody on piano because it sounds too sad on electric guitar! Ranking of guitar solos: 4:56 > 1:42 > 3:34 > 3:06

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Best of Times
DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)

What the heck Best of Times had a part with lyrics this whole time!!! This is just like what happened with Danger, but at least they fit pretty well in context this time.

~= END OF: ROUND 1 =~

---

-Abraham Lincoln

banshiryuu posted...

Words are unnecessary!

Okay Depeche Mode

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Final Voyage
Legacy

Hoo boy really liking Final Showdown today, I guess RoboCop Title was a good primer for more catchy Game Boy melodies over friendly chord progressions. Weird final battle theme though, I swear it would fit right in as a Pokemon Game Corner theme instead...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

No problem, we still have enough BD2 bangers to fill out the next 10 contests

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Spurred into Flight, Drenched and Fallen - The Night Rises
S-Rank Battle
Eleganza

Oh hey Living in the City is my kinda cheesy nostalgia, just a touch repetitive for this matchup. Also my brain always reads "Living in the City" but sings "Running in the 90s"...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Central Tower "Axis Pillar"
Dialgas Fight to the Finish!
FLIGHTLESS

Whoa, I have firmly established Liber Ark as the superior SC final dungeon theme, but Axis Pillar is making it a closer call than ever before! Love the iconic motif at 1:32 of course, but my favourite part has to be 1:02 with the, uh, telephone dial tones (surprise guest artist Wavetapper cube?!?)

---

-Abraham Lincoln

BAD DAY

I also just realized that Wavetapper broke yet another run of 11 wins by the first-slot song, which still remains the record and has now been achieved 3 times!

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Title Theme
XaaaCi.
Connexion

Oh no I thought I would really like Cosmic Hero according to my favs bracket, but I guess I've never really been into the dark and intense Carpenter Brut songs...wait this isn't Carpenter Brut? Well I guess I still feel the same way about it where it's a bit too samey throughout with only brief breaks - there's probably some slower song from this game that I really like in comparison!

---

-Abraham Lincoln

noot noot

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Into Free -Dangan-
The Dark Messenger
FLIGHTLESS

Oh my god Dark Messenger is such a cheesy bad guy theme I can't stop seeing its personified form strutting down the runway at The 32nd Annual Villains' Fashion Show please send help

---

-Abraham Lincoln

PIayer_0 posted...

Credits was my #1 retiree last year, so I certainly hope Wavetapper can replicate its performance! The retiring part, not the makes-round-2-and-gets-doubled part...

Hell yeah Wavetapper, but I just realized it's against Bahram Attack next round...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Rush Hour
Dyed Gradient (Murago)
Conquest

Oooooh it sure feels bad to vote against Liber Ark here, especially when I didn't remember liking Rush Hour this much and was mentally readying up a Liber Ark vote. I first gave this song a proper listen when I came across the excellent "Kiseki Series Final Dungeon Theme" YouTube playlist, where it was the clear highlight from the Sky trilogy and was a welcome member to my collection of "mysterious-sounding dungeon themes that open with constant bells/mallet percussion notes" like Shevat the Wind is Calling, Sky Tower, and Road to Primeval Forest! The thing that holds it back ever so slightly is all the high instruments playing the melody in-perfect-unison-with-uniform-loudness-on-every-note, which gets grating at 1:34-1:36 and just sounds wonky when several of those instruments are percussive/plucky sounds. Still, a super memorable dungeon theme that I can always play back in my head really easily (maybe I actually enjoy the song more when I "listen" to it that way...)

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Hell yeah the last few episodes of S2 were so good, I love everything that touches on the ups and downs of the three-way friendship. I've rewatched the Calamity Anne and I'M SORRY FOR EVERYTHING scenes more times than I can count. In the end I still like Reunion better as a season finale but True Colors definitely had more hype individual moments. Not too excited about the premise for S3 but I have faith in the crew and production team!

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Isquen posted...

thalassophile

damn it this was actually funny

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Battle! (Colress)
Bahram Attack -Nekomata Master Remix-
Wavetapper

If Life Will Change is so good why isn't there a-ALL GLORY TO THE WAVETAPPER. Just like Credits, I was 100% willing to support this song in noms but it locked on its own, woo! I actually don't care too much for the samples in these Frums songs, and am mainly interested in the backing tracks with glitchy beats and ambient synth lines - just loop 0:11-0:19 of Wavetapper and put something interesting over it and I'll be happy lol. Those synths somehow feel so full yet so sparse at the same time, I wanna say they have peaks at low and high frequencies with a trough in the middle but my ears aren't really trained for that. Credits was my #1 retiree last year, so I certainly hope Wavetapper can replicate its performance! The retiring part, not the makes-round-2-and-gets-doubled part...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

When you're in a mood like this, the resolution might be to go on eating...
Cause when you join the party, you feel as though small worries or problems fading...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Passion in Blue
Danger (ARM version)
444

F.O.E! F.O.E! Even in your Secret of Mana VGMC song, F.O.E! Props to Danger for doing ALL THE THINGS on a day of songs that I felt could do more with their runtime. 3:16 had me questioning my sanity before I just smiled in confusion - the song is clearly over why is there a new section AND WHY WITH LYRICS

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Tundra Man Stage (Instrumental)
Sky of Twilight
Give Me!

Damn, after 3 contests I guess I finally have to vote for Sky of Twilight (yes I checked, previous opponents were Intersection Me/You, Demon Truck, WildStar/Cold Science, Flotage). This song frustrates me endlessly because I hear so many good things and cool sounds and I want to cheer for Atelier, but it's all put together in a way that becomes the hottest of messes. Luckily, 5:20 to the end comes in with the clutch save to provide a genuinely good ending to the highway traffic jam that is the other 85% of the song...

https://tenor.com/view/garen-joker-dance-gif-18909841
https://giphy.com/gifs/season-4-the-simpsons-4x16-3o6MbrDHT7ZIUEbGvK
https://giphy.com/gifs/johnny-bravo-do-the-monkey-with-me-BcIrdipO6yRAA
https://giphy.com/gifs/kingfisherworld-xT4uQ9YaYbY0qPBJ6g

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Besaid Island
Iron Lotus
Speartip of Judgment

Besaid is a ***9.2*** and my #1 SONG IN THE CONTEST!!! What, only 9.2? Well, I like Crossing Those Hills better and that one's a 9.3...

X-2 Besaid from SupraDarky #196 was on my playlist for years before I realized that it should've been the original all along! The extended uploads of this song have gotten me through countless school assignments and study sessions, so the 2:22 loop point takes me by surprise when I'm so used to hearing it for 15, 30, or even 60 minutes at a time! Of all my favourite songs, this one really, truly demonstrates the power of loopability in the VGM genre. The entire song is built around a four-bar piano phrase that's wonderfully simple, both note-wise and rhythm-wise, and damn does that sparse theme get its full mileage from having the other layers weave in and out to support it in all kinds of interesting ways! Shoutouts to the bubbly electronic piano/bell synth that fades in at 0:10, truly the most worthy sidekick to accompany the piano through *almost* every section - when it jumps the octave at 2:04, I swear I get goosebumps and start ascending above the clouds to a higher plane of existence every time. Also, the high bell line at 1:40 always reminds me of PMD 2 Beach Cave lol. This really is a track that lets me jump to any timestamp and be immersed within seconds for the start of another endless listening session.

As far as non-retired songs go, Besaid is about as good as it gets for me and I hope it can join the other FFX retirees one day, even if it takes a few years for voting trends to change!

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Bowser's Galaxy Generator

I really like resurrectedreplayer!!! I also can't get excited for it at all!!! There's just too many zts "agent noun"-titled songs that I like better because apparently that's what words like replayer are. I don't think it beats any of the retired ones either, though it definitely gets close to miragecoordinator. My brain is just too quick to recognize the sensory input patterns from this song as ones that I've heard in other zts songs, and then I think of how much more I'd like it if it did the same things as them, not just consciously but unconsciously as well...

Now if this was actually my favourite zts song, I wouldn't give a HOOT that there's already 6+ of them retired, the chosen one must ascend to its rightful throne! That spot's comfortably occupied by dreamenddischarger or lastendconductor, though.

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Dang it, was hoping to avoid having to kill Battle Threat next round...

---

-Abraham Lincoln

now THIS, this is truly a DAY

Paradise (Stay Forever)
Battle -Threat-
Gallant Gunshot

Ginga Force, famed game soundtrack of 2020! Gallant Gunshot is a hell of an earworm, just a wonderful house guest who is welcome to crash on the couch in my brain anytime! I really have to hand it to those PUNCHY chords in the middle range, they totally carry the song and get very close to stealing the spotlight from the melody, like an epic choir or backing vocals presented at the same level as the solo singer! I want to hear this song played on stage so I can stand in front of the speakers and have my face blown off.

---

-Abraham Lincoln

String Theocracy
Love You Love You Love (Good Morning Onee-san Mix)
IMAGE -MATERIAL- <Version 0>

SPREAD ME OPEN FOR DADDY okay apparently those aren't the words but it's not too far off...I had a Gamebop moment today where I thought I didn't like String Theocracy anymore but it was mostly because I was focusing too much on trying to parse the lyrics (it's not easy). I mentally tagged this song as "has potential" when I first heard it, and it wasn't until it came up in the VGM in 2020 list that I realized how damn catchy it was! *various dancing emojis* It would regularly get stuck in my head for a good few weeks after that.

I had attributed the weird vocals to an "anime thing" but Japanese singers seem to use a nasally/pinched voice while I've only heard the soft/breathy voice from Westerners like the Mili singer and LilyPichu? The vocals in Dango Daikazoku are pretty close though!

---

-Abraham Lincoln

If Korobeiniki is allowed that opens up a whole range of possibilities

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTGFJBR4E1g

---

-Abraham Lincoln

There goes my rank #2 (which I supported), another support, and my favourite underdog song

---

-Abraham Lincoln

Vast Ice Mountain Peak
Elegy For Old Identities and Nostalgia
Teknopathetic

stop

playing games

There's a certain joy to typing out Naganuma lyrics that's hard to find elsewhere! FEEL the POWER in last year's contest was actually the first song of his that I'd heard in full, at least that I can remember...since then I've checked out a few more like Concept of Love and Funky Dealer, but not enough to be able to point to one as my favourite? I should get back to finishing my Naganuma education because it's always felt like a notable hole in my VGM knowledge!

---

-Abraham Lincoln