Board 8 > [VGMC] R16 D5: steelchambers2 (Pinball Fantasies) vs Chocolate Missile (Cytus 2)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to today's topic for Video Game Music Contest 13, a tournament of the best tracks from games, as decided upon by you, the voters.

Links:
Bracket - http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=471679
Contest info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17rEeB1_oYWgryWzIxOaZXw2a381gKGnMegjHCG_2OTQ
Discussion and results thread - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77672812
Bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RF28glW72G6s_5M1e4kcSxR

.
Rules:

- Listen to both of the songs. Links have conveniently been provided for both songs. Even if Song A is your favorite of all-time and Song B is from a series you hate... Listen. To. Both. (If I have suspicions your vote is not based on a fair and impartial preference, it will be disqualified.)
- Obvious contest rules apply (no alts, one vote per person, no rallying, etc.).
- Please make your voting options clear, rather than burying them in text.
- Each set of matches lasts 24 hours, even if the new one isnt up by then.
- Always vote on the versions of the song provided, not versions from different sources.
- If you know ahead of time that you're not going to be around and you want to vote in advance, post your choices in the discussion/bracket topic.
- Please do NOT post tallies/score updates in the middle of the match, as this has a tendency to directly influence matches.
- You don't have to vote in all the matches, but it'd be cool if you did!

.
Today's match:

Pinball Fantasies - steelchambers2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za0GHrE4WIM" data-time="

Cytus II - Chocolate Missile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2FRjbvb60Y" data-time="

.

Easy vote form:
steelchambers2 / Chocolate Missile

.

Song lyric trivia: A serpent lights the ancient sky, a threat of tainted stars. Evil stirs and in its wake, the souls of mortals sway. Sorrrroooow reigns, over fieeeelds oooof red. Spiiiiiriiiits pace through the shadows cast by their graves. These are days and nights of venom and blood. Heroes will rise as the anchors fall. Brave the strife, reclaim every soul. That belongs to the beauty of dawn.
---

steelchambers
---

steelchambers2
---

steelchambers3

Chocolate Missile

both Very Cute Underdogs but one of them is decidedly cuter
---

oh no I ruined it
---

Chocolate Missile

Easiest match in the world, Chocolate Missile has always been my dark horse champion.
---

Pinball Fantasies - steelchambers2
---

steelchambers2

steelchambers2
---

Chocolate Missile

Chocolate Missile
---

Chocolate

It's one of two songs I would look forward to seeing win the contest since the previous round ended.
---

Cytus II - Chocolate Missile

Somebody please stop steelchambers2's reign of terror!

steelchambers2
---

Chocolate Missile

Chocolate Missile

Chocolate Missile
---

Chocolate Missile

Finally, it's time for the [C]uperior bracket! Though I have to say, it's bittersweet seeing these humble songs pit against each other right after retiring. Despite being at opposite ends of my ranking, I think both are very special and can find things to appreciate in each depending on my mood. I guess I find myself craving chocolate more often than steel.
---

Chocolate Missile
---

steelchambers2

Cytus II - Dark Chocolate Missile (it's dark 'cause I said so)

Time for some more crappy writeups.

Pinball Fantasies - Steel Chambers 2
Wow. I never thought this would be the one to retire in its twelve-pack. It sounds kind of like certain SNES game soundtracks such as Axelay. Hmmm, turns it really was made for SNES (but also PC). Heres another track where its hard to find a defined form. Those choo-choos are cool, as well as the xylophone thingies. While the textures are good, it would be nice to hear a little bit more variety that aspect. The first part of it is pretty much all 4/4, with very little melody and not much rhythm either, but thats not a problem here its all about the harmonies, tone clusters, and atmosphere. Actually, the bass is pretty melodic here, come to think of it. The sound is the bass is just perfect! At 2:10 we finally start to hear some melody in the treble. Ooh, I like the way it ends the harmonies to finish it off are totally different from the rest. kind of unexpected. Overall, it is very good, even if its only ranked #13.... it is possible I would rank it more like #11 if I re-did the rankingsCERTAINLY above Skyclad Observer (which I ranked too high at #10), at least, and probably above Infestation, too. Man, I really need to re-do my rankings, but of course, Im stuck with them

Favorite part: 4:41 the end
Ranking: 13 out of 16 (revised ranking: #11)

Cytus II Chocolate Missile
Wow, what a unique vocal piece. THANK YOU THANK YOU board 8 for getting behind music as good as this one. it gets super tense (e.g. at 1:00), and then right back to calm again. I wonder what language this is meh, cant find it. Im really liking the start, both the singing and piano writing is excellent. The Christmas-y sound at 0:26 is definitely odd. 1:29 is more of the typical tonality you might expect, but it continues to find ways to surprise, such as at 1:48 when you expect it to finally end on the root of the tonic, but then it throws a bunch of syncopated chords at you and now the singers on the 9th instead. The Christmas-y bells come back, but grindy guitars join it, then it turns a bit Middle-Eastern, then it turns into metal, then briefly its a chiptune and then its back to a super calm main theme. Wow! I just love all the sounds being used often in subtle ways. Im loving the coda, how the vocalists sings the tonic in a 3-on-2 rhythm with those changing piano chords under it, and then theres the tasteful sound of something breaking at the very end.. it's a Kit-Kat Bar breaking!!!All in all, I LOVE it! One of my very favorites in this contest!

Favorite parts: 1:02 1:28 and 1:28 1:55
Ranking: 5 out of 16 (#3 in revised rankings!).
---

Chocolate Missile

But steelchambers is also great

steelchambers2
---

Pinball Fantasies - steelchambers2

Best match of this round, feel kinda bad voting against the best rhythm song remaining
---

Cytus II - Chocolate Missile
---

Cytus II - Chocolate Missile
---

Chocolate Missile

steelchambers2
---

Chocolate Missile
---

Chocolate Missile

Chocolate Missile



I don't know that I'd even call this song half as good as the Splatoon songs that (so briefly) made it in, but I really want to listen to a song performed in a fictional language right now... unfortunately, while I think I'd usually take the other song, this is just what I want right now and can't vote against it today.
---

Chocolate Missile
---

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

Chocolate Missile

I don't know that I'd even call this song half as good as the Splatoon songs that (so briefly) made it in, but I really want to listen to a song performed in a fictional language right now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y81PyRX4ENA" data-time="

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWrKHWpLn0U" data-time="

@banshiryuu
---

Chocolate Missile
---

Chocolate Missile

NFUN posted...

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

Chocolate Missile

I don't know that I'd even call this song half as good as the Splatoon songs that (so briefly) made it in, but I really want to listen to a song performed in a fictional language right now

[song links]

@banshiryuu

Thank you! Very quick thoughts:

"Beyond the Bounds" as a fantastic instrumental opening; it's also interesting how it switches between its fake (Finnish inspired) lyrics & actual English.

Hymnos songs are usually good times and this song is no exception (Jacqli being the best character in the game certainly doesn't hurt any). It never reaches the heights of EXSPHERE, but as a more...restrained song, it certainly works well.

"Douse Shinundakara" didn't work for me at first; not usually into swing music and it's very old-fashioned, though I did appreciate it for being different than the other songs... but after looking up the lyrics, my opinion of the song jumped drastically.

Shinundakara > Jacqli Hymnos > Chocolate Missile > Beyond the Bounds.

Thank you again and my apologies for slightly derailing the topic.
---

Pinball Fantasies - steelchambers2
---

steelchambers
---

steel chambers
---

1. Pinball Fantasies - steelchambers2 (10) (over Romun Empire, With their fingers entwined, blackstarlight, Break the Limit)

vs.

13. Cytus II - Chocolate Missile (4.5) (for Precious Heart; over Murderswarm, An Ill Omen; for Soaring Through the Sad Blue Skies)

I cannot believe steelchambers2 is still in. It even retired! After how bad the early rounds went for me (I was ranked last in win percentage by the end), I certainly didn't expect to have one of my 10/10 songs retire. What an unexpected turn of events. steelchambers is pure Amiga goodness, among the finest the platform has to offer. I never get tired of its twists and turns, its progression, its love. This is a song of love.

Chocolate Missile is fine I guess.

#steelchampion2

Vote:
steelchambers2

Pinball Fantasies - steelchambers2

I still don't know what I'm listening to. More please.
---

Chocolate Missile
---

Cytus II - Chocolate Missile

Oh, boy... This is quite a match, but for the wrong reasons.

Match-up analysis:

I could go as far as to say steelchambers2 is, objectively, the oddest song in this 16-pack of retirees and, subjectively, one of the weakest, but not bad by any means (probably better than Exsphere). The first minute-and-three-quarters of this song really hold it back; the next 50 seconds make a good build-up for what's yet to come, and at 2:36 it goes full ultra-16-bit(ish?) quality, which is really awesome. The problem, however, is how much time it takes to get there, even if the actual result delivers really well at the end; the very beginning is quite an oddball, and could definitely be reworked in various ways to make the song better.

However, Chocolate Missile also suffers from the same quality-varying problems, but in a different way. For starters, as I've said in previous rounds, we have a fictional language that's not hymmnos. This is where we encounter our first problem because the singer, as sweet as she sounds, also clearly sounds like it's singing improvised gibberish instead of an actual language, which affects the song by making it feel kind of artificial and fake in that regard. However, the greatest problem, in my opinion, is how much it changes its pace without sounding... harmonious, or well-planned. Case in point, we have 1:29 with a hyper-boost that makes you think that you'll have an awesome overall change of pace, but around 5 minutes later it goes back to a softer tone (uncalled for), then it goes hyper again and goes back again; it's like running with everything you got, then chickening out, then running again, and so on and so forth.

But the quality problem doesn't end there you have many bits that display different sounds and styles within a 4-to-8 seconds each (more or less), and that kind of thing just isn't enough to have an actually solid piece. This is actually the opposite of solid it's like a rollercoaster, but in a bad way. Well, I have a better term for it: it's half-baked. The ending also confuses me... Is it part of the main song, or is it just the video fading out with another tone?

This is a close match, for the wrong reasons. It's especially hard for me to measure how good a song is in comparison with another one at around the same quality when the actual quality varies immensely like both of these songs do. steelchambers2 last minutes are definitely a headbanger, but even with that in mind, I prefer Missile's instrumentation more, as freaking messy as it is. Both songs have redeeming qualities, but maybe one redeems itself in a greater manner than the other. Missile's execution just pisses me off, though, as ironic as that sounds.

Varying quality with a higher potential but better instrumentation > Varying quality but steadier although with less brute potential
---

steelchambers2
---

steelchambers2
---

steelchambers2
---

Chocolate Missile

steelchambers2