Lurker > TsunamiXXVIII

Stargazer
Licht (VS Ferry)
Big Blue

You know, I wouldn't have expected a song called "Stargazer" to be a hard rock song. It's not bad! I guess this would be called J-Rock? :)

And it's up against...oy. Why does a song with "rebel army" in the name sound like a menu theme? This song is certainly decent, but it's outclassed here.

Woah. Nice stuff, if a bit generic. I was trying to remember which other game's music it was reminding me of, and I finally landed on Bravely Default. You could do worse.

I'm kind of sad, because this is a jazzy piece and it's totally out of its depth today.

Servants of the Scourge! Probably my favorite discovery of VGMC13, totally rocks out. And yet it feels a little pedestrian today? I guess today's regular matches were just that good. Oh, right, there's more to it. Yeah, I knew it was a long song, and still I'm rushing to judgement. Although it seems like trying to fit it in actually flipped my decision on who I'm leaning towards in Round 2 of the main bracket if both my picks win today.

And of course, it's up against the one and only Big Blue. And arguably the best rendition of it at that. I have a weakness for the woodwinds; they're very nostalgic for me. (My grandfather was a professional musician in the big band era). Argh, now I'm wavering on where Scourge fits in! Okay, let's call this the final ranking.

Licht (VS Ferry) > Big Blue > Stargazer > Servants of the Scourge > Shingujamori Rebel Army > Roll Me In

Just don't hold me to anything besides SRA and RMI being 5-6. Man, SotS 4th, what a day.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Mechalullaby
Blind Justice ~ Torn Souls, Hurt Faiths ~
Strike the Earth!

Wow, this first match is crazy good. I'm a huge fan of Don't Speak Her Name, always have been, but Mechalullaby is just awesome.

You know what's also awesome? The Second Dark Matter Battle. Be it main line games or spinoffs like this, Pokmon usually delivers with its boss themes and has ever since RBY and the first Champion Battle theme. And yet, I nearly voted against it here, until Blind Justice ~ Torn Souls, Hurt Faiths ~ started getting a little too Umineko-y for my tastes. Except actually good. Actually, really good. That ending brings it back; it's too good not to vote for.

Which leaves us with this unfortunate ToC match, in which a song that is merely "good" easily gets my vote on a day where all four main bracket songs were "great" because it's against "please lord make it go away".

Mechalullaby > Blind Justice ~ Torn Souls, Hurt Faiths ~ > Don't Speak Her Name! > Second Dark Matter Battle >>>>>> Strike the Earth! >>>>>>>>>>^>>>>>>>>>> goldenslaughterer

Yes, that's a caret in there, as in "exponential". Seriously, this thing's been in at least 22 matches too many, probably more like 27 if I assume that people were at least trying to get it in in the years prior to its retirement that it wasn't in but other Umineko songs were. Yes that's right I'm counting it getting nominations as "too much".

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with 80.37%
Mass Effect 2 with 55%
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with 60%
Persona 4 Golden with 50.44%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with 65.56%
Persona 5 with 54%
Dark Souls with 53.58%
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim with 59.5%

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Zeal Continent
Massive X
Flash Frost

Oh hey these two songs are the exact same length! That's funny. Two good songs, pity I have to pick only one of them.

That's because this second match is two awful songs! I've been getting better at not making snap decisions, but I didn't even get 10 seconds into You're Not Here before deciding that Massive X barely needed to be good at all to get my vote. Massive X wasn't good, so I went back and listened to more of You're Not Here. It's a close call, but either way, it saddens me when I have to vote for something bad and against something good on the same day.

Wait, this is ELFERIA? I'm not used to this type of manic energy faring well here! Well, whatever, it's good, but IIRC not good enough to get my vote here.

Nope, not good enough. Flash Frost is so good. Though maybe not the best song today?

Zeal Continent > Flash Frost > Despair of ELFERIA > Metropolis ~ Kerwan >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Massive X > You're Not Here

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Still haven't played Odyssey, but Sunshine is underrated. I understand the problems people have with it, but I find that Sunshine's gimmick isn't nearly as bad as the two Galaxy games.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Baby Metroid
Mona
-
Shulk

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Night Gale
Infinite Dungeon 2
Preserved Valkyria

Whoa. This first match is absolutely incredible. Dark Man Stage would definitely get my vote against a lot of things, but Night Gale apparently isn't one of them. There is a fairly good chance that the loser of this match gets my wild card vote, unless Night Gale wins but then loses next round.

ChRoNiClESeVeN seems like the type of song that I'd like, but I just...don't. Or maybe it's the type of song that I used to like but don't anymore. Of course, if I'd been paying that much attention I probably could've voted this one without even playing the songs, because alternating case tends to trigger me into a rage. I guess that's the point? I actually had to look it up to find out that it was a meme; when I first started seeing it I thought it was a way to bypass restrictions on too any capital letters. Of course I also learned that the meme has apparently been around since 2012 and I only just experienced its usage in the end of 2019, so yeah, old memes are old.

Oh holy crap this match is incredible too! I may have to break out the excessive greater-thans again for this day.

Night Gale > Preserved Valkyria >> Dark Man Stage >> Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze >>>>>> Infinite Dungeon 2 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ChRoNiClESeVeN

Seems about right. Carefully curated my greater-thans: #4 is a little closer to #1 than to #5, and the gap between #5 and #6 is six times the gap between #4 and #5. Why six? I don't know, it just felt right.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward


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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Seize the Truth!

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Well, it's here...and for some strange reason, it's Oracle, but a really poorly implemented Oracle where everything gets rounded to the nearest whole percent and you're picking using a slider alone so it's impossible to get a perfect score if any match ends with the winner below 50.5%

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

(2) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Move Me
Battle 2
Invitation Flower ~ Autumn

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

-(Isoleucine)-

Man, what a weird path Snowman took. I was really hyped about getting it back into the contest, enough that it was one of the nominations I had cued up in advance. Possibly even as a double? And then I was told that the version in Ultimate actually was a straight rip from the Brawl version, but that was fine because it wasn't one of the many songs Brawl retired, and my enthusiasm just kind of disappeared; it was actually one of the things I kept considering for dropping earlier, and only kept bringing it back because it was getting support. It's just too bad it's not in the second match so I could vote for it!

Seize the Truth! > -(Isoleucine)- > Snowman > Toccatina >>>>>>>> Looking Up at the Sky > Ricordando il Passato

Wait, why does my phone already remember this? We're not into R2 of the ToC already, are we?

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paperwarior posted...

Endorsing Drill Dozer, Sigma Star and WarioWare (particularly Twisted.) Adding Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 1 and 2.

YES! So glad I'm not the only one on the Sigma Star Saga hype train.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Fire Emblem Awakening
Bravely Default
Pokmon X/Y

Last match is cruel.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Azuarc forgot what day it was again.

Megalovania
Lake
Monolith

SSBU > Undertale > Halloween Hack > Homestuck. Just saying. There are other versions too, obviously, but those are the important ones. And I guess the only ones that are really official? Actually I don't know maybe the Undertale version is better than this. It's a tough call. I'd just been binging Homestuck because I'm afraid I might not get another chance with Flash discontinuing at the end of the year. Why did we disqualify it from VGMC again? There's a lot more interactivity than I remember. At the very least, the music from the adventure game sequences should count.

...Oh wow this is adorable. I love it. Not enough to vote for it over Megalovania, but given how much I've lamented some of the songs that keep coming back, I'll have to take note of this title since the reception to it seems really negative but it made it in anyway! Time for me to be the tormentor for once.

DPP might stealth be the best soundtrack in the Pokmon series, though I'm still partial to B/W. Friggin' DS! So underrated. God, I have half a mind to dig out my copy of either Pearl or Platinum and get back to it. Whichever one I didn't cheat with an Action Replay to get all the legendaries.

Oh this is nice too! How am I supposed to make a decision on this?! ...Oh, that's how.

I had very mixed feelings about Chocolate Missile throughout its run. At one point I thought it was incredible, and at another I hated it. So far I'm not liking it!

This, on the other hand, is outstanding. Best of the day, and it's been a strong day.

Monolith > Megalovania > Chou chou kou soku de mae sai soku!!! Speed star Kanade > Lake > The Merciless Savior > Chocolate Missile

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Last round against Red Dead Redemption, Persona 4 Golden broke the record for smallest max lead by an entrant that led wire-to-wire.

This round's win against GTA V also ranks #7 on that list. It's the only entrant, be it game or character, to show up on the winning end of two matches in the Top 25, though there are three characters and one game that show up on the winning end of 1 and the losing end of another and one who shows up on the losing end of two.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Weight of the World (Japanese)
Love Scope
Laguerra del Mundo

I've frequently expressed a preference for uptempo songs in VGMC. But perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I'm far more critical of downtempo songs. Anything less than phenomenal, and I probably won't like them that much. Weight of the World is phenomenal. I'm listening to it to the end even though I've pretty much already decided to vote for it without even hearing its opponent. Which usually means that said opponent is about to blow me away even more! ...Except I'm not sure how that'd be possible. When I said I wasn't too worried about another bad retiree after yesterday's crapfest, I had no idea just how strong a song I was about to hear!

Sudden Visitor is, as expected, a good song. Feels like it's been a while since I've had a match where I liked exactly one song; most of them have either been two good songs or two bad ones. That said, this isn't close.

Feels like it's been a while since I've had a day where I didn't uniformly consider all the songs to be either good or bad, I mean. Holy crap this is good! I'm pretty sure I liked Laguerra del Mundo so we're probably not headed for a day where the ToC songs are 5-6, but I'm already pretty sure Someday the Dream Will End is headed for #6.

Yep, I was right. This is not on the level of the rest of the day. Pretty sure this one falls into...never mind. This one shot from #5 to #2 in an instant, because I'm a slave to nostalgia and this is basically an anime theme song, the type I'd have been watching/listening to in college. I may be embarrassed by 13-to-16-year-old me, as I stated a couple days ago, but 19-to-21-year-old me is still cool in my book. *thinks about a nostalgia blast in a recent topic* Yep, stand by that assessment, since I'm pretty sure that that particular fondness bypasses "13-16" completely and goes all the way down to 11-12--I mean 12, just 12, we can't be going back on 11 being a horrible age just yet. (Actually, I know for a fact that it's 11-12, because it was middle school, and I started high school when I was still 12.)

I, um, stand corrected? I mean, this is damn good, too, but...I'm not sure it beats out any of the four songs in the main bracket? Again, sounds just a tad too Sonic Heroes for my current tastes.

And, yep, typical Final Fantasy yawnathon. Bye Felicia.

Weight of the World (Japanese) > Love Scope > Classroom > Sudden Visitor > Laguerra del Mundo > Someday the Dream Will End

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Couldn't be happier about this being the match to eliminate me. My bracket was absolute crap anyway; there were some matches in later divisions where I couldn't believe that I actually picked what I did. Much better to have the elimination come on an overestimation than a misclick; doubly so given that it's a case of GameFAQs having better taste than I gave them credit for!

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

EXEC_PAJA/.#Orica extracting.
Mysterious Trap
Kurokami Midareshi Shura to Narite

I see EXEC, I automatically assume shit. And it took a while for there to even be enough substance in this song for it to be considered shit, but shit it was! At least there's a chance it won't be dead last, because we've got one of my most hated songs in the ToC up today!

Or, you know, I could end up actually voting for the Ass Tonelico song. OH GOD THERE'S WORDS. Stop it now; I don't even want to listen to the end, or anything close to the end.

...Fuck. The Ass Tonelico song's going to be in the top half. Why is the Ass Tonelico song going to be in the top half?

Okay finally we have a song that is not completely ass. It's still not great, but it's at least okay, which is pretty good for today.

And finally, we get a song that's...good. Not outstanding, but good. Still feels like the type of thing I would've absolutely adored as a teenager, which isn't really a positive because I consider my teenage self to be kind of an embarrassment.

Yeah, same goes for this song. It's an absolute comedy, listening to this. The edge, it is slicing me to ribbons. So edgy. I can't even get up any good loathing for this song, I'm laughing too hard at it. But I was wrong about Ass Tonelico making the top half, because instead, this day was so bad that the ToC song I already knew I disliked makes the top half!

Kurokami Midareshi Shura to Narite > Mysterious Trap > Yesterday's Seymour Battles are Today's Ingredients are Tomorrow's Whatever the Hell Comes Out of the Right Side Of Bracket A > EXEC_PAJA/.#Orica extracting. > Two Dragons > Chant This Charm

Yeah, couldn't help but take another shot at Bracket A, while also acknowledging the only time I voted not for the song I felt more deserving of retiring, but the one that I had less desire to see in any further contests. Shouldn't have to worry about this stinky day producing a retiree, though; I'm not familiar with any of the songs that they could be facing in Round 3 just yet, but their potential R4 opponents all look solid! (Yes, I have faith that it's almost impossible for the C2 Wild Card to suck; that part of the bracket looks stacked, though I'm quite fond of a couple of the other C1 songs.)


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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Kirby: Planet Robobot
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma


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Also known as Cyberchao X.

KamikazePotato posted...

We haven't seen Xenoblade against anything actually good. It's possible that Splatoon 2 is SFF and Overwatch is just garbo. If I could change my bracket to Xenoblade right now I would do it in a heartbeat, but I wouldn't be TOTALLY surprised if it isn't as strong as it's first two matches imply.

I mean, technically we haven't seen this particular game against anything strong. I don't remember exactly when I wrote my write-up, but I feel like Arkham City doing better in Round 2 against Bioshock Infinite than it did in R1 against Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is another reason why XBC had the clear advantage.

I'm always happy to not be boxed in, though I doubt I'll actually get the accuracy point. I can hope! For once, I've actually played both games in this match, and it's not close which one I like more.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Running Hell
Battle YAS 2
Skyclad Observer

Aww, do I really have to listen to Cloche again? I already know I don't like it and I was the one who first nominated its opponent! ...Actually this isn't bad. Not good enough to vote for against Running Hell, but a lot better than the EXEC_WHATEVER shit that I remember. Also, it has the generosity to be relatively short.

Running Hell is a banger! I've never actually played Cave Story, but this song is a popular choice to get used in romhacks; I think my first experience with it was the constantly-speeding-up version from A Super Mario Thing. Crazy good song though.

Holy shit this is some good stuff. I wasn't expecting much from it given the minimalistic title and graphic. But this is some epic 90s nostalgia even though I highly doubt it's actually from the 90s.

So when I finally checked this song out in the nomination topic, I was like "yeah, sounds good, I'll support it". Then I counted and found that the post in which I'd first noticed it brought it to 5 pre-lockdown, so it was in without my support. Just keep that in mind; this was a song I was willing to spend one of my supports on. *wink*

"Last Surprise" indeed! Yeah I'm not even going to talk about Skyclad Observer. It's great, end of story. But when I saw P5 in here, after deciding that I actually liked the Arse Tonelico song for once, I figured "oh lol I'm going to put a ToC song in sixth". Not even close! This was insanely good, easily could've gotten my vote over a lot of things.

Battle YAS 2 > Skyclad Observer > Running Hell > Last Surprise > Rustling Throb ~ Cloche > Time for a Great Turnabout

I told you to keep it in mind that T4aGT was a song that, despite having never heard until it was already safely into the bracket, I was willing to spend one of my own supports on until I realized it needed no further supports. My last place song on the day. And we're already all but guaranteed a retiree worse than any of the songs on the day! I think the only way we don't get a song worse retiring would be if Snake Eater loses next round, then wins the A4 wild card and wins two matches, while Flightless wins the A3 Wild Card and wins two matches. That's it. Two fucking songs on the entire right side of Bracket A that I'd vote for over my last-place song on the day.

Fuck Bracket A so hard. Festering shitfest. Also, lol at me having to use a 4 in place of the word "for" because the acronym formed by rendering it properly is outright not allowed to be posted. Their automod must be a real riot in Britain.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Yuri_LowelI posted...

I hope you're talking about NSMB1. That was ok.NSMB2...is the worst Mario game nintendo have put out since Mario is missing.

Wow, how can an opinion be so bad? NSMB1 was absolute trash. NSMB2 wasn't great, but it was at least decent.

Also, I could turn your statement around since NSMB1 came out last decade. Your statement is worse because without even having to remember the exact release date of NSMB2, it's a 3DS game so 2011 at the earliest. So your statement is invalid because the real worst Mario game came out in 2010!

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

(8) Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked
(12) Pushmo

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

The Filthy Mind (Theme of the Hive Mind)
Jazzy NNYC
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested


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Also known as Cyberchao X.

swirIdude posted...

That's not how the Noble Nine works.

KokoroAkechi posted...

Honestly, the way that members have tried to defend the sacredity of the nn has been outrageous.

Agreed on both counts. The Noble Nine is just a thing. They were the top 9 characters in the X-Stats in the first Character Battle, and it was a really arbitrary cutoff, but it worked. And for one year, it truly made sense that 9 was the cutoff, no lower and no higher.

Keep that in mind. It was only one year. After the 2005 contest, Snake and Sonic still had no victories over other Noble Niners, though they certainly had beaten some of the top contenders for making it greater than 9, while Samus's only wins over a Noble Niner came against Sonic and Mega Man's had only come against Sonic and Snake; in 2007, L-Block happened and also Vincent beat Crono. The only time at which the Noble Nine had the status of "none have lost to outside competition and all of them have transitive losses to all of the others" was after the Elite Eight of 2006 when Snake beat Mega Man and Sonic beat Crono.

So why are we mythologizing them? There are plenty of other strong characters out there, some of whom weren't even in the first Character Battle. That's the part that really makes it silly; the 2002 Character Battle had a ridiculously high amount of fodder, due to the glut of fighting game characters in the field. But being in every character battle is required to be considered "elite"?

The Noble Nine are still the Noble Nine, and they always will be. It's just that their streak ended in 2007, or 2010 if you insist on only counting 1v1s, and if you're really anal and only count 24-hour 1v1s, not until 2018. But there are non-Noble Niners who are on the same level as the lower ranks of the Noble Nine. Zelda, Pikachu, and Tifa proved it in 2018, and MMX is probably right there, too.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

ZenOfThunder posted...

Ulti is from Jersey, he lives like an hour from me i think

Oh, you're from Jersey too? Sweet.
NFUN posted...

all jersey B8ers are awful*

*except wigs

Aw, yeah, Wigs too. I mean, it's obvious he's from the general area since he's so vocal about his Mets fandom but I figured he was probably from NY or something.

Leonhart4 posted...

Huh, didn't realize Moonroof was still here. Still seems to have the same total lack of effort in his trolling.

I didn't either. Wasn't until I saw Zen quote him that I realized I just have him on ignore.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Cavedweller2000 posted...

I'm secretly hoping that SBAllen has planned a second contest putting the top 64 of this contest and the top 64 of the last GOTD contest in a bracket together!

Doubtful, though I do expect there to be a bonus poll pitting the champion against Majora's Mask. And since we all expect Breath of the Wild to win this one, it'd actually be a worthwhile match!

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Bad End Syndrome
Saudade
Daddy Mulk

Wow, Bad End Syndrome is pretty good! I'm surprised, just based on the title. Is this some sort of parody of VNs or something? That's just such a strange title. This has the earmarks of an early favorite to get retired.

And it's up against...Final Fantasy doing Final Fantasy things. For about a minute and then it turns into Final Fantasy doing Shadow the Hedgehog things, because why not?

...Bon Jovi, is that you? This is seriously crazy; I could totally hear this song actually on the radio.

Bitbop is...kind of retraux. Like I can tell by the soundfont that it's from a recent system, but it still sounds like a Sega Genesis song. It's kind of cool I guess?

Speaking of old-school Sega, hi Daddy Mulk! This is a really fun song.

And while I was kind of expecting another vocal song, Rapal's pretty good too.

Saudade > Daddy Mulk > Rapal > Bad End Syndrome > Bitbop > Shadowbringers

Strong day all around. It kind of has to be when I equate a song with Shadow and then rank it last; "Spirit Tsunami" did, after all, start out life as Shadow knockoff "Spirit the Hedgehog" before the plots started getting bizarre enough that he ended up with a more humanoid form. It's kind of a shame that this was the account I ended up locking in on as my main, since I've pretty much unified the rest of my online presence under the Cyberchao X banner (oh, look, it's still a Sonic Adventure 2 reference).

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward


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Also known as Cyberchao X.

SuperNiceDog posted...

thanks, I don't know how I'm still alive either

I know how I'm still alive...I just don't know why.

Actually, that's not true. I just checked the other three brackets with SMG2 in the final, and there are enough other differences in those brackets that the picks I actually believe in would be enough to potentially get me ahead of them if my bracket looked more like I wanted it to. Still have no f***ing idea why I picked Arkham City over The Last of Us, though, a mistake compounded by picking it again over Dark Souls (which would of course be wrong, but that's just a garden-variety wrong pick, not a "wait, I picked what?" pick).

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Dark Souls with 63.1%
The Last of Us with 54.45%

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim with 67.1%
Pokmon HeartGold/SoulSilver with 54.15%

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
Midnight Lady
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Xenoblade Chronicles with 54%

Super Mario Galaxy 2 with 50.25%
God of War with 56.2%

Persona 5 with 60.34%
Red Dead Redemption 2 with 54.41%

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with 72.69%
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age with 63.85%

Mass Effect 2 with 61.37%
Resident Evil 2 with 58%

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with 75%
Super Mario Odyssey with 72.99%

Persona 4 Golden with 54.5%
Fire Emblem: Three Houses with 51.1%

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Star Fox 64. It was one of the first games I ever owned, and it's just so quotable and replayable. I've probably spent days worth of time grinding for a high score, and it's also my go-to game when I've been having a bad day--just take out all my aggression on Venomian fighters. Safest outlet I know.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Oh fuck I missed a day. Please don't let it have mattered, please don't let it have mattered... FUCK!

Kaine ~ Salvation
Battle! Giratina
To the Distant Sky

Pretty trash today, especially that first match. Damnit one of my noms lost by a single vote on a day that I missed... oh well, maybe it'll have been to a good song anyway.

... Well, it's good. But not good enough. Fuck.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild vs. Final Fantasy XV -
Monster Hunter: World vs. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age -

Mass Effect 2 vs. Horizon Zero Dawn -
Resident Evil 2 vs. Bloodborne -

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate vs. Marvel's Spider-Man -
Shovel Knight vs. Super Mario Odyssey -

Grand Theft Auto V vs. Persona 4 Golden - Sir Chris
Xenoblade Chronicles vs. Fire Emblem: Three Houses - TsunamiXXVIII


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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Heropon_Riki posted...

I just liked the ninja with hamsters and the punk rock girl. Am I out of touch...?

No... it's the fans who are wrong.

Oh, no, those are definitely some of the best characters in the game. Also the gamer chick and the comic relief mechanic.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Heropon_Riki posted...

I think VLR is at the very least, stronger than Danganronpa 2 by a good margin. For starters, VLR is almost unanimously considered the best in the franchise while Danganronpa 2 is generally seen as worse than the original.

I also generally hold the opinion that later games in the franchise being worse only strengthens earlier games in the franchise. Super Paper Mario for example has gained a much more favorable reputation after Sticker Star's release. So I don't think Zero Time Dilemma hurts it much.

Don't get me wrong, VLR was never going to be a heavy hitter in this competition, I'm just saying the 30% votes it did get are probably mostly the VLR fanbase and not like, anti-votes against Diablo 3 or anything.

It's like a mini-Xenoblade honestly. Small fanbase, but the people who have played it really, really like it. The main difference being that Xenoblade got a massive visibility boost in recent years thanks to Smash and Definitive Edition while VLR just kinda... is.

Really? Those are some strange opinions as far as I knew. I always thought that 999 was considered the best in the franchise, and...I'm honestly not that keyed into the DR fandom. I guess it does make sense for the first game to be better received there, too. I wouldn't pick it there, though.

Edit: Ah, seeing the responses, seems I was right.

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Thermal Base 1
To the Distant Sky
Flaming Bonds Are Being Tested

Flaming Bonds Are Being Tested > Thermal Base 1 > Douwa Kairou > Confronting Myself > To The Distant Sky > Zadok

Don't be fooled by the fact that they're the only pair of songs facing each other that are adjacent in my ranking; the second match was the only one that WASN'T close. The four songs in matches 1 and 3 are all close to one another.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Dark Souls vs. Rocket League - MetalmindStats
Yakuza 0 vs. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - MechanicalWall
Batman: Arkham City vs. BioShock Infinite -
Diablo III vs. The Last of Us -

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim vs. Journey - TsunamiXXVIII
Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn vs. Mario Kart 8 - Sniperdog117
Pokemon HeartGold / SoulSilver Version vs. Rayman Legends - Hbthebattle
Divinity: Original Sin II vs. NieR: Automata -


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Sniperdog117 posted...

Yeah I tweet about moist matches. Not sure why, but it is a habit at this point.

One of the contests, they actually gave away t-shirts to people who promoted the contest on social media.

So, speedrunner, huh? What games?

Edit: Oh, nice! I wouldn't have the patience to speedrun an RPG. My attention span's too short, which is why the game I've been grinding out has an any% record of just under 13 minutes, and not because of crazy glitches.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Leonhart4 posted...

Like do we think DMC5 is a clear and easy winner over Stardew Valley? Or do we think Galaxy 2 isn't that far from Odyssey? I don't think I buy either of those.

But I also think talking it up to beat Witcher because of the format of the contest when it couldn't even beat ME1 is silly!

I'd buy the first but not the second.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

https://nintendoeverything.com/rick-may-the-voice-actor-of-star-fox-64s-peppy-hare-and-andross-passes-away-due-to-coronavirus/

In addition to his two roles in the Star Fox series, he was also known for voicing Soldier in Team Fortress 2. RIP, Peppy.

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with 59.71%
Super Mario Galaxy 2 with 73.8%
Fallout: New Vegas with 61.61%
God of War with 71.2%

Persona 5 with 64.84%
Super Meat Boy with 50.45%
Kingdom Hearts III with 61.1%
Animal Crossing: New Leaf with 60.34%

Dark Souls with 75%
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain with 65.61%
Batman: Arkham City with 51.35%
The Last of Us with 70%

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim with 80.34%
Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn with 51.41%
Pokemon HeartGold / SoulSilver Version with 72.22%
NieR: Automata with 61.34%

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Heading Back to Town
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon)

Wow what a day. I gotta be honest, part of the reason I usually rank all six songs in a day is to keep my honest on days like this where I know as soon as I see the matchups how I'm voting. Heading Back to Town was only in one previous contest and it made a quick exit but it made a huge impression on me. Meanwhile, Desire Blue Sky was a song I thought I remembered from previous contests, and enough with the title that I figure it must've made R4 because I seem to remember it challenging for retirement. Only thing is, I don't remember this at all! I may have spoken too soon about it being a monster day all around; I distinctly remember "Chaos;Head - Desire Blue Sky" making a deep run, but this is completely foreign and I can only assume I listened to it in R1 and then vowed to just vote for its opponent for as long as it remained in the contest. Which is silly because it's not that bad.

Ah, Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke. Why did this have to end up as the Touhou song we nominate every year? It's not a bad song, but for me, it loses to about half of the Imperishable Night soundtrack and almost all of the Perfect Cherry Blossom soundtrack. Off the top of my head the only song from PCB that I'd take RFTMIS over is Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Til When?, though I'll admit that I don't remember Withered Leaf very well and can't even quite remember the title of the stage theme that precedes it. Something about a village? Yeah, that's right, The Fantastic Village of Tohno. That doesn't quite sound right, but close enough. Well whatever; it's got an utter nothing of an opponent today. Just when I was ready to write it off, the music picked up...and then the vocals continued to be the same shit they already were. Honestly if this was a pure instrumental it'd be a close match, though I'd still vote for RFTMIS. But this is just awful.

Oh, right, I should've already known 1NF3S+@+!0N wasn't the Terraria Calamity song that I'd vote for against just about anything, because we just heard Servants of the Scourge. Whatever, it's still more than good enough to beat anything a Persona game can muster... ugh. I was about to shut this down and put it in dead last, but the lyrics cut in just in time. They technically make things worse, but by doing so, they make it So Bad, It's Good. That's enough to get it ahead of Desire A New Nominating Committee. ...Actually upon further review, this is not bad. The more I listen to it, the more I like it... okay, looks like it was as good a day as I thought.

Heading Back to Town > 1NF3S+@+!0N (Theme of Crabulon) > Rivers in the Desert > Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke > Sound of the Wind > Desire Blue Sky

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

B2 Battle
Central Park
Dark Legacy

At first I was going to dismiss Endeavour because of how slow it was. Then it kicked in at about 40 seconds, and I kind of wish it hadn't! Screamy much?

I think I actually tried to get this song into an earlier VGMC and it didn't pick up any traction, so when I saw someone else had nominated it this year, I was quick to jump on the support train. Both this and SMTIV's other frequent boss theme, actually.

This is silly. The song title itself is a bit disconcerting because I can't see sentences with some but not all words being in all caps without thinking of a certain very annoying character from AA5, but that's irrelevant.

But cheesy songs from games with equally cheesy titles can't measure up to super-retro beats like this! Sweet.

Dark Legacy is, uh...a dark legacy. Seriously, I don't know what to think of this song! I both love it and hate it at the same time and I can't quite figure out why. Ultimately I think I fall on the side of "like".

Unfortunately, Whereabouts of Light is the exact opposite of what I was hoping for when I saw an RPG.

B2 Battle > Central Park > Dark Legacy > FEEL the POWER in YOUR SOUL > Whereabouts of Light > Endeavour

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Also known as Cyberchao X.

Also, how was "crazybusisgood" not an option for this poll?

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Also known as Cyberchao X.