LogFAQs > #975517485

Countdown of the Rankings + Pokemon Types (because why not?) Part 2!:

8 . Sonic R - Can You Feel The Sunshine -- Yeah, I would've preferred this as the winner over the other Sonic song. Better instrumentation, better melody. Better pretty much everything. Both are great though. (fire)

7. Simcity 4 -- Epicentre -- Okay Suna Gina was better but this is still a banger. Love the percussion here especially. For some reason, the singing at 1:06 reminds me of Enya (complimentary). (steel/ground)

6. Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Northeast Frost Street -- I feel like there are better/more impressively composed songs from this ost (ex. Blizzard Bridge) but this is still fantastic. It's just filled with this feeling of a simple fun adventure in the frosted streets. A very endearing song. (ice)

5. Professor Layton and the Last Specter - Theme of the Devil's Flute -- Possibly one of my favorite discoveries from any contest. This along with some discussions I've had with fans of this song and series has re-ignited my interest in playing the series after I got bored of playing the Curious Village like...10 years ago (oops). The guitar solo at 3:01 is *amazing* btw. Great buildup. Awesome piece of music. (ghost)

4. Breath of Fire V - Electric Power Building (PowerOne) -- Classic example of an acquired taste at least for me. I still remember when I ranked this near last place (35th of 38th) when we had it in a Supra contest a couple years ago. Fast forward two years, and I literally supported the song myself. I love the electric sound effects. And my gosh this song has some of the coolest build ups (chord progressions?) I've ever heard starting at 2:20 mark (not to mention the harmony in this section is pure ear candy). (electric)

3. Final Fantasy VI - Dancing Mad -- and the award for my favorite song that I didn't nom/support goes tooooooo-- the Kefka theme lol
This is such an impressive composition especially considering the hardware at the time. FOUR movements?! Insane.

The first movement is such a nice starter. It's extremely intimidating (really lets you know THIS is the final boss) and just EPIC. And those runs at the 1:33 mark?! Damn this goes HARD.
That organ does wonders for this song.

The second movement is where we first hear some semblance of the final boss himself being incorporated into the music...a foreshadowing for the final movement? Perhaps. My least favorite of the four but still impressive no less. It's like...Kefka is maniacally laughing at you! Definitely quite fitting.

The third movement...oh man. Once again, banger organ. This literally sounds like Bach somehow, specifically Toccata and Fugue (aka the vampire theme song), which I guess makes sense considering vampires are usually evil and intimidating just like Kefka.

The fourth movement is definitely the fan favorite and for a good reason. I'll admit when I was first introduced to this song a while back, I didn't care for this movement, but it has grown on me. It really represents Kekfa's insanity very well, that's for sure. Great finisher.

As one commenter on one of the Dancing Mad videos put it, using the SNES soundfont is like painting with crayons. Pretty hard to do and hard to make it sound nice. With this song, Uematsu used those crayons and painted the Sistine Chapel. (dark/flying)

1. Super Mario 64 -- Staff Roll (normal) & Chrono Trigger -- To Far Away Times (psychic) -- Choosing between these two is like trying to decide who is your favorite child. It's impossible. Both are two of the greatest credits themes in gaming history. They both have beautiful melodies and great instrumentation. They both perfectly convey the bittersweet feeling one would have at the end of an adventure. They are both songs I feel you don't even have to play the games to feel nostalgic for because they capture that feeling so perfectly. Seeing Staff Roll here makes me especially happy after its tragic r1 loss last year. What a fantastic comeback. Both are masterpieces. Oh, and if they were people, TFAT would be time travel buddies with Back in Time. Definitely.