Board 8 > Anagram ranks 73 B8-nominated VGM!

(+) Yeah! (+)

Great_Paul posted...

Nice, two of the top 10.

I paid zero attention to the nominators, by the way. I barely remembered to include them in my excel sheet.

MycroProcessor posted...

based on the little of your taste I knew, I expected Bunwaii Desert to be your favorite of my noms (my prediction was it'd be the only one in the top half if any were in the top half) but I didn't expect to be your favorite by THIS much. Really happy it got this far

I haven't listened to it since I made the list, so I don't remember it at all. We'll see how I like it when I get back there.
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And NFUN is out.

10. Scourge of the Universe
Game: Terraria Calamity
Score: 63/100
Nominator: NFUN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Syn1mJVt7U" data-time="
Things I Liked: The opening with the gongs
Things I Disliked: Nothing

Its time for our final Terraria song. I like epic horns, epic gongs, synth music, and choirs that chant nonsense. This has three of those things. I really like the background chiming that starts at around 2:04, it really gets me in the mood for an epic battle.

This song has a lot of energy and fun to it, but doesnt compromise on the epic tone that it wants to go for. Theres a very long quiet interlude starting at 2:24 that I assume is designed to give the audience time to contemplate on the philosophical implications of a giant evil worm that swerves from to side while eating gods to the sound of synth music and gongs.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjOj_6cMGEY" data-time="
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Wow, hot top 10.

Nice, outlasted nfun's entire calamity mod triple pack with just my last one left. Can't say I'm exactly confident I can say the same about the rest of the top 10, looking at the composition of it and all. Granted, I expected to be out by 10 places ago so what's another 10 really?

Incidentally, I've been playing some board game online lately and can't seem to avoid calamity mod there either.

And so MycroProcessor dies.

9. Bunwaii Desert
Game: Caraven Stories
Score: 65/100
Nominator: MycroProcessor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g18fx7FHYjc" data-time="
Things I Liked: Flutes, feeling of aimless wandering
Things I Disliked: Slightly repetitive

This wins the dubious least watched YouTube video in the project award. I took the liberty of leaving the first comment on the video.

I really like the flute sound that starts at 0:17 and repeats throughout the song. It has that wandering desert sound, but it doesnt compromise on the energetic nature of the rest of the metal beating. Theres an occasional sound of like some weird animal or rocks falling (you can hear it most clearly at 1:36), but basically the song needed to nail the feeling of being alone in a big-ass desert. I can imagine it already: endless orange dunes, the sun setting in that way that makes its edges look like really long horizontal triangles, and maybe a caravan of Arab traders dressed in white robes. There was a serious lack of location songs in this list other than city songs, and Bunwaii Desert really hit the spot for me. I guess it doesnt matter anymore, so I might as well say that had there been any decent tundra winter music, it would have killed.
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And so Flamander dies.

8. May Be Tomorrow
Game: Dyna Brothers
Score: 66/100
Nominator: Flamander

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85wFKQnT5HU" data-time="
Things I Liked: Deep beating sound, general twirly metal sounds in the background
Things I Disliked: Nothing

You know a games a classic when it doesnt even have its own Wikipedia article and typing its name into google gives you a review from CoolROM.com.

By far the strongest aspect of this song is the first 27 seconds with the deep beating metal sound. After that, it transitions into a more general adventurous music before bringing back the deep beating. This is the perfect kind of 16-bit era platformer music, where its just upbeat, energetic, and silly, constantly hitting you with those classic beats, which is strange since its a strategy game? Dunno. Nothing about this makes me think of dinosaurs, but Im prepared to accept that as a technical limitation of 1993.
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Such is the end of UF8.

7. Digital Beast
Game: Black Bird
Score: 67/100
Nominator: UF8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb8WxSU1M94" data-time="
Things I Liked: DOWEWEWEWE
Things I Disliked: The guitar riffs are weak

Awww yeah, this is what I want to hear while Im playing as a muscular roided-out guy with a terrible gun running and jumping over platforms, searching for glowing power-ups that give flamethrowers and miniguns. I dont even want to know what this game is actually like, it cant be better than my imagined Contra clone. I love the DOWEWEWEWEWE in the background and the deep tones, its all just so perfect for a run and gun shooter.

At 1:53, theres a computer frizzing out noise out of nowhere, nothing about it makes sense or is explained in any way. Again: perfection. Its so silly and video game-y, this is the kind of thing I love.
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6. Dire, Dire Docks
Game: Super Mario 64
Score: 70/100
Nominator: Great_Paul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBPbJyxqHV0" data-time="
Things I Liked: The underwaterness of the sounds
Things I Disliked: Lots of missed potential, kind of a weak melody

Its time to come clean with you all: until Mario 64 DS, I had only played about three minutes of the game at a dentists office. It had zero impact on my childhood. Because of this, Im often left to wonder if it really deserves its status as a classic for all time. If it came out today with modern graphics, would anyone care? I have to believe the answer is no.

That said, this song is so iconic that I still knew it even though I didnt touch the game as a kid. I dont know the word for it, but this song has lots of that weird reverby-sound that you hear in underwater video game stuff all the time, the kind of xylophone sound meant to seem like its underwater even though actual underwater sounds are nothing like it. The melody itself is okay, slow and plodding and kind of contemplative. Im not a big fan of it, but it works for what it needs to be. It gets a little more energetic as it goes along, but it never commits to that energy. I feel like this song has a lot of missed potential, but that doesnt take away from what the song does get right, which is why its so highly ranked.
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And so these are our top five:

Colossal Circuits (Super Mario 64) Nominator: Shonen_Bat
Heavens Divide (Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker) Nominator: banshiryuu
Lifelight (Smash Bros Ultimate) Nominator: Great_Paul
Lightweight (This is the Police 2) Nominator: MoonRunes
Wasurerareta Piano no Kioku (REFLEC BEAT Yuukyuu no Reflesia) Nominator: banshiryuu

I'd never even heard of This is the Police 2 or REFLEC BEAT before making this list.
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Anagram posted...

I dont even want to know what this game is actually like, it cant be better than my imagined Contra clone.

You are correct. In fact, it's worse than most things. It's a nsfw dungeon crawler from the mid-90s on pc-98 that uses a card-based battle system like a ton of mediocre rpgs did back then. This was a boss battle theme of sorts, and it was my backup vgmc pick for howling of the birds. Digital Beast is the evil organisation in it.

UF8 posted...

Anagram posted...

I dont even want to know what this game is actually like, it cant be better than my imagined Contra clone.

You are correct. In fact, it's worse than most things. It's a nsfw dungeon crawler from the mid-90s on pc-98 that uses a card-based battle system like a ton of mediocre rpgs did back then. This was a boss battle theme of sorts, and it was my backup vgmc pick for howling of the birds. Digital Beast is the evil organisation in it.

Does the game feature actual birds though?
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FL81 posted...

UF8 posted...

Anagram posted...

I dont even want to know what this game is actually like, it cant be better than my imagined Contra clone.

You are correct. In fact, it's worse than most things. It's a nsfw dungeon crawler from the mid-90s on pc-98 that uses a card-based battle system like a ton of mediocre rpgs did back then. This was a boss battle theme of sorts, and it was my backup vgmc pick for howling of the birds. Digital Beast is the evil organisation in it.

Does the game feature actual birds though?

No, Black Bird is the resistance group the protag is a part of. Which I guess makes this kind of like Contra after all.

UF8 posted...

Anagram posted...

I dont even want to know what this game is actually like, it cant be better than my imagined Contra clone.

You are correct. In fact, it's worse than most things. It's a nsfw dungeon crawler from the mid-90s on pc-98 that uses a card-based battle system like a ton of mediocre rpgs did back then. This was a boss battle theme of sorts, and it was my backup vgmc pick for howling of the birds. Digital Beast is the evil organisation in it.

I knew I was right.
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Great top 5 no I'm not biased shh

Lightweight > Lifelight > Really Long Title > Colossal Circuits > Heaven's Divide imo
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5. Wasurerareta Piano no Kioku
Game: REFLEC BEAT Yuukyuu no Reflesia
Score: 74/100
Nominator: banshiryuu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu2oUwSUEws" data-time="
Things I Liked: Swooshing piano music toward the beginning
Things I Disliked: Not enough to make fun of

This song wins the coveted smallest aspect ratio on YouTube award. Youve earned it, my friend.

I like the short piano opening. I like the swooshing piano music and the epic buildup, and I like how the piano gets crazier at the 0:45 mark. Theres a good section at 1:20 that really lends the song an intense feeling. Unlike a lot of songs on this list, this one gets by based purely on the composition and lack of irony. Its just actually a good song, which means theres not a lot to really make fun of.
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And so Great_Paul dies

4. Lifelight
Game: Super Smash Brothers Ultimate
Score: 75/100
Nominator: Great_Paul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhgDibw7vB4" data-time="
Things I Liked: So dumb
Things I Disliked: Could be even dumber

Colors weave into a spire of flame, distant sparks call to a past still unnamed, bear this torch against the cold of the night, search your soul and reawaken the undying liiiiiiiiiiight

This song is so stupid that it loops around to being great. Its exactly the kind of stupid nonsense I love: a woman breathlessly belting out lyrics, all of the words being so laced in metaphors that theyre applicable to any scenario, and epic instruments in the background behind her. I love this kind of dumb crap, I listened to this song like ten times after the original video was uploaded to YouTube.

Im on the fence about whether or not it could go dumber. It certainly could, but should it? Any further and its entering intentionally stupid territory, which is always risky. Very few intentionally bad things are good-bad, good-bad is almost always the result of someone trying to be serious and failing. I dont really know how clever the people behind this song are, is the thing.
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lifelight is so awful that it loops around to being terrible
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And so dies Shonen_Bat.

3. Colossal Circuits
Game: Super Mario 64
Score: 75/100
Nominator: Shonen_Bat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZE2rgbhC2s" data-time="
Things I Liked: Opening
Things I Disliked: Low horn halfway through the song, overall business

If were being honest here, I think I might have horribly overrated this song, but its too late to change things now! By the way, I have zero memory of this song or stage from when I played the DS version.

This song has possibly the strongest opening of any song on the list, which is probably its best feature. We get 16 seconds of a melody thats powerful but kind of winding, and yet also kind of unpleasant. Then it transitions to playing a few notes of the classic Mario theme. This is also rock solid. At 0:45, it switches gears to being more active and original, going for sort of a weird techno theme, and at 1:00, it keeps the techno and becomes more energetic.

I really dislike the low horn that starts at 1:17, and after that the song becomes a little too busy for my tastes, with a million instruments and sounds involved. It quickly returns to the original few sounds we had during the opening before fading out.

This song has a lot of ups and downs, is what Im saying. Its got some really strong qualities, but theyre mixed in with some very bleh ones, and I dont quite know what to make of them. Still a good song for a weird level in a Mario game, though.
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1 entry and one 13th place result.

Not bad!
Glad you liked that silly baseball song.
It really does set the mood when you open the game and are on the main menu, let me tell you what!
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That's not a Super Mario 64 song, Anagram.
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Mac Arrowny posted...

That's not a Super Mario 64 song, Anagram.

Just checked, apparently someone snuck a fan hack song in there and I didn't notice. Oh well.
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Terraria Calamity is a mod too :p
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Mac Arrowny posted...

Terraria Calamity is a mod too :p

Dammittttt
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it's a mod with a 40 song soundtrack and more effort put into it then several other games in this list

you never said they can't be from a hack or mod
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NFUN posted...

it's a mod with a 40 song soundtrack and more effort put into it then several other games in this list

you never said they can't be from a hack or mod

I don't actually mind at all, I'm just screwing around.
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2. Lightweight
Game: This is the Police 2
Score: 81/100
Nominator: MoonRunes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7BE3YwtkUw" data-time="
Things I Liked: Synth, sets the mood perfectly
Things I Disliked: Forgettable whatever lyrics

This could be the closing credits music for an 80s cop show. The lyrics are forgettable nothing, but I like the guys voice and I love synthy stuff. I know its clich to say this, and I know 80s nostalgia is a whole thing, but I really do think the 80s had the best music of any decade. Also, I love the extended WAAAAAY starting at 2:40. This is just one of those songs that so completely nails what its going for that theres almost nothing more I can say about it.

I know nothing about This is the Police 2, I assume its a game about two plainclothes detectives and their wacky adventures stopping a Mexican drug smuggler dressed in a white suit. Sometimes they get reamed out by an angry police chief with a dress shirt and suspenders.
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1. Heavens Divide
Game: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Score: 83/100
Nominator: banshiyuu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFbjOlJRyBw" data-time="
Things I Liked: Everything
Things I Disliked: The game its in

This is literally the only good thing in Peace Walker. God, if ever there was a game series that needed to stop after it wrapped up the main story, its Metal Gear Solid. The story of Big Boss path to becoming a warmongering psychopath was already perfectly told in MGS3, this game and especially MGSV basically just ruin everything. Fun fact, Peace Walker is the only mainline MGS I havent beaten. I got to a tunnel late in the game, realized I needed to grind way more, and just watched the rest on YouTube. I almost hate how this song is actually worth listening to because of the game its associated with, same thing with some of MGSVs music, though in that case its complicated by how a lot of it is just covers of real songs.

Anyway, with all of that out of the way, one thing I love in music is deep-voiced women belting out lyrics in breathless voices. Its why Holding Out for a Hero is my most listened-to song in my iTunes account (the shame). Its a testament to MGS excellent music that this isnt even in the top three lyrical songs from that series for me. I also like how it succeeds in the James Bond-esque spy music theme (not as well as Snake Eater, but so be it) and works in what might be the dumbest two words of any song ever: tiny souls. So good.
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Thanks for playing, everyone.
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wow im glad i remembered you nomd calling to the night for glaciers first ranking lmao

Heavens Divide sux

Love Deterrence only good MGS vocal song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOaSh1-d9gc" data-time="
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Mac Arrowny posted...

Heavens Divide sux

Love Deterrence only good MGS vocal song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOaSh1-d9gc" data-time="

I realize MGS has a lot of room to be silly, but J-pop is still wrong for the series.
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Thanks Anagram! Great little project.
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Raka_Putra posted...

Thanks Anagram! Great little project.

Glad you enjoyed it.
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