Board 8 > [VGMC] d42: Fire Island Volcano vs Fucking in Heaven, MAIN MEN vs Patronus

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to today's topic for Video Game Music Contest 14, a tournament of the best tracks from games, as decided upon by you, the voters.

Links:
Contest info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VNrPnFRI7nJ4PqFiURBW0NWqxvXiuasoq8Sn_O169ss/edit#gid=320804650
Bracket - http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=473292
Discussion and results thread - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78524521
Bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1REnVI_W6yELaDP6Zac8b0Wq
ToC playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RE-TQMj19D0k5nm-0zeH12J
VGMC compability sheet - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lpX4faqnn_geI0y4i6MrZ2AXpV6SWXoWrIA6_eyx-yM/edit

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. (Matches do not begin until at least 10:00 EDT.)
- 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!

.

Match 1

Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon - Fire Island Volcano
https://youtu.be/62ep8uK8nfQ

Gran Turismo 2 (PAL) - Fucking In Heaven (Simons Gt Mix)
https://youtu.be/0ehtTdzOT8g

Match 2

Top Gear Rally - Main Menu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oubq22rV9sE

Otocad'or - Patronus anata no shugo
https://www.you

Anyone got a working link for Skyclad Observer?
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https://youtu.be/CEPlT4aM6mQ

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Fire Island Volcano
Patronus
Rapal
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I legally cannot vote for the other song lmao
Fire Island Volcano
Patronus anata no shugo
Rapal

Fucking In Heaven (Simons Gt Mix)
Main Menu
Skyclad Observer
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Fucking In Heaven (Simons Gt Mix)
Patronus anata no shugo
Rapal

Not a fan of either song in match one whoops. Both are way longer/more repetitive than I'd like.

Main Menu is good stuff. I'd vote it over either song in match 1 easily. Patronus is even better, but I feel like whoever uploaded this included too many loops.

Patronus > Menu > Heaven > Volcano
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Fire Island Volcano
Patronus anata no shugo
Rapal

Fire Island Volcano (8.5) / f***ing In Heaven (Simons Gt Mix) (4.0)
Main Menu (4.5) / Patronus anata no shugo (6.0)


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Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon - Fire Island Volcano
Top Gear Rally - Main Menu
Steins;Gate - Skyclad Observer
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Fire Island Volcano
Patronus anata no shugo
Skyclad Observer

my opinion on the gt2 song is merely neutral at best, but my opinion on what its presense represents is so overwhelmingly negative that i'm not sure i have it in me to vote for it over anything else in the contest. call that not based on a fair and impartial preference in you want, i don't want one of my favourite series to be treated like a (fucking) joke. also fire island volcano is a much better song anyway even if on reflection i now narrowly prefer shinjugamori rebel army as far as songs with didgeridoos in this contest go, thank you poll for helping me realise this

speaking of meme songs... i'm disappointed the (better) version of the menu theme i grew up with and nominated got ignored while this one got in effortlessly because... well, you know. i'm not nearly as that critical about main men as i'm making it sound, i'm just bitter about getting nothing in this year really. anyway, patronus gives off vibes of a few other things. i wouldn't say it's as good as those things in general but it is good enough to get my vote. interesting song, nice to see it again.

decent toc match

Fire Island Volcano
Patronus ~Anata no mikata~
Rapal

Main matches have two songs I love and two tracks I kinda don't. Though MAIN MEN is okay.
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dowolf posted...

Fire Island Volcano
Patronus ~Anata no mikata~
Rapal

Main matches have two songs I love and two tracks I kinda don't. Though MAIN MEN is okay.

can't believe Bob won it all smh

damn your edit

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Fire Island Volcano
Patronus anata no shugo
Skyclad Observer

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Raetsel_Lapin posted...

Anyone got a working link for Skyclad Observer?

Man, did the SCO link die *AGAIN*? I replaced it like a week ago, I thought.

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Fire Island Volcano
Main Menu
Skyclad Observer

Fire Island Volcano
Main Menu
Rapal

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Fire Island Volcano
Patronus anata no shugo
Skyclad Observer

there are some divisions where I can't tell what's supposed to be the 1v12 seed match - this is not one of them
Patronus feels somehow underwhelming but it's not bad
OPEN THE EYES


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Pokmon Super Mystery Dungeon - Fire Island Volcano
Otocad'or - Patronus anata no shugo
Steins;Gate - Skyclad Observer

Match 1: Ah yes the didgeridoo, my favorite Celtic instrument. Haha epic meme song, except no this is terrible. Riot at the Bat Rack was better, easy match is easy.

Match 2: MAIN MEN is as good as always, being a solid 7/10. Patronus still reminds me of Yousei Teikoku somehow. The anime girl in the thumbnail is too happy to fit with the vibes of this song.

ToC: Rapal isn't my favorite Granado Espada song, but the violin is still nice. I'd take SCO over anything I've heard from the GE soundtrack though.

Timestamped AMV rips, it feels like I've stepped through a time capsule.

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Fire Island Volcano
Patronus anata no shugo
Rapal

In VGMC13 on the day I had decided to join in and do nominations I saw Fire Island Volcano, and decided I just had to support it because technically that very day I had already been listening to it in a way, because I actually once made a little animation project for college that used a bit of that song as backing because that's what I was listening to while making it, and so on that very day I had apparently decided to rewatch that animation before checking the nominations and then I saw it wow! Then apparently during the last minute voterush someone de-nommed it and I didn't catch it, and it ended up being the only 1 of my 20 nominations (which were really all supports) to not get in that year. This year I didn't face as well results ! I think it was more like 16 I got in this year, maybe less. Maybe that's still like above average or something or maybe not. Maybe it's average. I dunno. Anyway this song got put in my ranking topic, maybe because I had supported it! But I'm not gonna say much here yet because I WILL SOON I wonder if during set 2 would be a good time to get it up & running or so... Anyway as for the other song here, the y'know swear song, it's a fairly weird song. It reminds me a ton of a soundtrack I found & wanted to nominate for Place's theoretical "weird vgm song" ranking topic if/when that becomes a thing so I will be vague about it. It reminds me a bunch about it for better & for worse, often for worse actually. Because said soundtrack also does a ton of "repeat sections 4 times with little variance before moving onto another section to repeat" that also have this weird voice talking through it, and ultimately thus they both have this weird feel to them. Hence why I want to nominate something like that for the topic! Anyway I do like weird! But I also clearly like FIV on some level, and ultimately I like it more so that's my vote thanks.

I think at some point I got MAIN MENU song confused in my mind with the swear song of the previous match that I just listened to, probably because these are both somewhat "meme"ish songs that come from racing games. Maybe the way they are placed directly next to each other on the bracket contributed to that too or maybe that was a coincidence. Anyway I'm not really feeling this one that much, I kind of like the retro feel a lot of the audio quality has but the moody piano turns me away. Buuuuuuut, it's up against vocal focus. Hrm.... I mean obviously by now I've shown I'm not against voting vocals when a vocal song has more for me than the non vocal song, which, is kind of what's going on here. I really like a lot of the fast paced little synth notes going on giving the song a real neat atmosphere. I kind of really like the sort of key tune going on at 1:54-1:56 that I will probably never know how to explain. Additionally these vocals aren't the worst. I really feel like OtocaHEARTd'or has more to offer for me. Heck the piano in MAIN MENU is probably more of a detriment to me than the vocals here.

The piano is far less of a detriment in Rapal than it is in MAIN MENU. Meanwhile the vocals are far more of a detriment in Skyclad Observer than they are in Otaca<3D'or. How does the world work. The piano issue may have to do with the general moody sad vibe the song of MAIN MENU feels. Anyway I think I've written about these toc songs before.

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Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon - Fire Island Volcano
Otocad'or - Patronus anata no shugo
Steins;Gate - Skyclad Observer


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Fire Island Volcano
MAIN MEN
Skyclad Observer

Fire Island Volcano is my 42nd favorite in the contest! this track has grown on me so much, and saying that as someone who already liked it. I thI LOVE POKEMON MYSTERY DUNGEONink i initially didn't quite get into it the way I do other PMD dungeon themes because it takes so long to explore out of the same diatonic scale it's stuck in for like the first 57 seconds (even if it is DORIAN which is COOL because it means this is "CELTIC" JRPG MUSIC). the didgeridoo intro always misled me to think this didn't have any of the tonally crazy stuff i like about this ost. then 1:38-2:14 happens and it's like abruptly overwhelming how often the tonal center's changing, in true "pmd dungeon theme fashion" !!! the exact type of tonality i obsess over this soundtrack for actually used for like maximum effect out of nowhere! I guess it's saving that overstimulating complexity energy for a climactic finale moment. I LOVE POKEMON MYSTERY DUNGEONalso yeah i love the instrumentation i like big strings and big "world music" instruments which i guess includes combining "didgeridoo" with "jrpg fantasy music('celtic')" music. it's still not quite what i like most out of this game's music (really the vibe of "subdued, not immediately gripping dungeon theme that's really complex, but doesn't blast you with it's intensity, you're rewarded with intricacy if you choose to focus on it but it still fades into the background when you let it do that" vibe is exactly what I like the soundtracks most for, almost every other dungeon theme is like THAT, and so the high energy of this defeats that being one of the key traits i look for.) I love this regardless though and it still has the really playful tonality that explores all over the place, constantly changing tonal centers, not stuck all in a single diatonic scale. That's one of the key things I look most for in music from this series! This explores what I like about this soundtrack much better than most of the music that represented this game for so long in the history of vgmc and I'm very happy this is finally what's a representative for it (alongside infinite dungeon 2!!!)

Fucking In Heaven (Simons Gt Mix) is my 158th favorite in the contest! i mostly only like this for the Type of song it is, even if i'm not super down with this example of it. I like chopped sample-manipulation based electronic music from this period, though i never actually got into fatboy slim particularly, remember finding it hard to sell him on me compared to like The Crystal Method (to name someone who's often compared anyway). I remember even being confused why they were so often compared just because i couldn't ever get into fatboy slim but i could dig everything he was compared to. love the chopped feeling distorted atonal guitar stuff. Wish this was less empty. this specific example of this style just doesn't click with me even though i normally like it. the really neutral blues progression guitar moment at 2:35 is an example of just like...there's so much cooler atmosphere this could have if the most boring type of music to me wasn't what this harsh weird chaotic stuff was juxtaposed with. but i love all the harsh distorted sounds and stuff!

I LOVE POKEMON MYSTERY DUNGEON

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MAIN MEN is my 113th favorite in the contest! I kinda imagine a good chunk of the people who typically like the same things i do these days won't be super excited about this. There's definite a lot of "nostalgic for when my taste leaned more towards stuff that sounds like this even though i don't like music like this that much now" going on in my appreciation of this one. super simple minor 6-7-1 progression (i used to like this, and still like this case of it), super grainy low quality samples (i like this even still), kinda meandering melody wandering randomly within the same diatonic scale without ever doing interesting even with in it but it's EPIC and DARK so i like it...so many of these are things I'd complain about in other music but I love it here. I think the aspect of this that's most to my current tastes is how a lot of the harmonies actually uses kind of dense chords (especially in the piano), it's not just sticking to open maj/min triads and that's very important to me. I also really love how STEREO panning-heavy this is written, very AMIGA. There's also specific samples that are really really to my taste timbre-wise, the low slow decaying synth sound at like :08/:12 is amazingly 80s feeling. Gives me the vibe of the album "Power Windows" by Rush which is an album I am very fond of particularly for the soundscape it offers! particularly reminds me of the darker tracks on it like Mystic Rhythms and Emotion Detector. would love to hear an authentically "80s synth-heavy production" style version of MAIN MEN.

Patronus is my 134th favorite in the contest! this has the sound of something I'd expect to rate super highly, but just falls short of being something i'm really excited about. it's a case where how rhythmically forcefully on-the-beat it is (the vocal layers at like :27) winds up coming across as like a condescending simplicity rather than the intimidating primalness i'd want that sort of "really simple repetitive vocal line" to be. not sure where the line is between those two perceptions because it honestly seems arbitrary that i interpret this as "dumb" but I'll listen to like "Magma - Ork Alarm" or even "Who Am I?" (tomorrow's match) and be successfully intimidated. something about all the chromatic stuff in the vocals at :38 bothers me too. The parts I like more compositionally are the less dark parts, but I want to like the dark parts the most because they're the coolest in every other way!! Honestly can imagine myself completely forgetting this song exists and listening to it 5 years later and becoming obsessed with it and being confused why i criticized it at all. At the very least I love it's "electronic music with dark chanting" aesthetic.

close

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Rapal (36th out of 56) vs. Skyclad Observer (34th out of 56). Very close match! giving it to skyclad because i'm more in the mood for the sort of fancy electronic production effects it's full of. I like a lot of things that sound like Rapal to me, but i like those things more than Rapal itself. Still, can see myself flipping on this one.
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Fire Island Volcano
Patronus anata no shugo
Skyclad Observer

Fucking In Heaven (Simons Gt Mix)
Patronus anata no shugo
Skyclad Observer

FATBOY SLIM FATBOY SLIM FATBOY SLIM fire island volcano was okay FATBOY SLIM FATBOY SLIM FATBOY SLIM IN HEAVEN IN HEAVEN

main men

thanks to nfun i now rapidly convulse and foam at the mouth at the sound of skyclad observer but i cannot deny that it slaps

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Fire Island Volcano (96th) vs Fucking in Heaven (Simons GT Mix) (184th)
Main Menu (175th) vs Patronus ~Anata no Mikata~ (19th)
Rapal [13th//16th] vs Skyclad Observer [10th//13th]

Fire Island Volcano is very lava WEEEEEEOWWWWOWWWOWWWOWWWOWOWWOWOW australia main theme Makes me wanna go on a safari and then 0:32 comes in and instead makes me want to dance with swords in a Zektbach music video and any song that makes me want to do that is immediately something I love lmfao. Very cool stuff going on here!!! It's not the strongest of its kind to me but its up against guitar stuff I don't like oh nooooooo. I actually do like quite a bit of elements of Fartking in Heaven but that guitar is just so dumb to me so it's like barely above a 6 to me. Yes, 184th place is still a 6. 188th place is still actually a 6 lmao why is video game music so good

Main Menu is DARK PIANO SPOOKY tracker music on nintendo 64 which makes it crunchy mmmmmm too bad these sounds that I like are with a composition that puts me to z's so my brain just kinda bounces it back out my ears and I forgot all about it already. Meanwhile NU-KO's voice bounces around inside my head and back and forth and never LEAVES AND THIS SONG IS TOO GOOD SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIROOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIIII never before has an anime girl voice (i say that affectionately because nu-ko has consistently good vocals unlike some others but i wont name nanahira names what sorry what who said that not me) made me fell DARK and like THE MOON IS CRASHING INTO EARTH MAJORA'S MASK ANIME BAD ENDING all the synth stuff underneath is just icing on the cake. love the flow in and out of the dark to angelic and back i'm seriously on a trip through purgatory back and forth. chanting mmmmmmmm such a good song lmfao

Unlike other formats, this is a truly cooperative game. Mindlessly grubbing for points will not serve you well. Be conscientious of your fellow players and work together! As in all things, if you find yourself without a clear goal in mind, you'll end up adrift in the sea of life, going nowhere. Don't be careless! Don't be rash! No matter how trivial something might seem, it has the potential to shape the future. Pay attention. Every action has a consequence.

Patronus ~Anata no Mikata~ > Skyclad Observer > Rapal > Fire Island Volcano > Main Menu > Fucking in Heaven (Simons GT Mix)

Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon - Fire Island Volcano
Otocad'or - Patronus anata no shugo

Steins;Gate - Skyclad Observer
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Fire Island Volcano
Main Menu
Skyclad Observer
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Fucking In Heaven (Simons Gt Mix)
Main Menu
Skyclad Observer

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Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon - Fire Island Volcano
Otocad'or - Patronus anata no shugo
Steins;Gate - Skyclad Observer

Second match was tough.

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Fire Island Volcano
Patronus anata no shugo
Skyclad Observer

Fucking In Heaven (Simons Gt Mix)
Patronus anata no shugo
Rapal

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f***ing In Heaven (Simons GT Mix)
Main Menu
Skyclad Observer

Fire Island Volcano vs f***ing In Heaven (Simons GT Mix): Fire Island Volcano is pretty funky. It joins the ranks of songs I've listened to in this contest that are "good but are things I don't see myself listening to often". Now that that has been said its time to get into the meat of this match up. F***ing In Heaven is probably one of the most fun pieces of vgm I've ever heard. Its got this infectious vibe to it that always makes me smile and bop my head to it whenever I listen to it. I really don't think there's anything that can compare to this track, its just that good.

Main Menu vs Patronus anata no shugo: Main Menu has this super oppressive atmosphere that I like a lot. There isn't much going on with Main Menu but the things it does do are done so well I think I can forgive it. Oh and its also got some "non spooky area in a horror game" vibes going at times so thats a big plus. I was scared that the rest of Patronus would be like the opening but then 0:25 hit and I was relieved. The rest of the song is pretty good with those choir chants happening but the parts of the song that are like the first 20 seconds sting so much that I don't think I can vote for it.

Rapal vs Skyclad Observer: Rapal is the opposite of Main Menu where there isn't much going on and the things it does do are done poorly. The track really only has the violin that keeps droning on and on and by the end I'm sick of it. Skyclad Observer still slaps so this was a pretty easy match.

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f***ing In Heaven (Simons Gt Mix)
Patronus anata no shugo
Rapal

in all honesty, i don't like the simons gt mix as much as the og non-vgm version

Fire Island Volcano
Patronus anata no shugo
Skyclad Observer





songs aren't bad, definitely more than just meme songs

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Fire Island Volcano
Patronus anata no shugo
Skyclad Observer

Pretty easy day.

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In Heaven
MAIN MEN
Rapal

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Volcano
Patron
Observer

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Fire Island Volcano
Main Menu
Skyclad Observer

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Fire Island Volcano
Patronus anata no shugo
Skyclad Observer

Fucking in Heaven (Simons GT Mix)
Patronus anata no shugo
Skyclad Observer

Why is there a profane title in VGMC and why am I going to have to vote for it before even hearing it? Oh, okay, Fatboy Slim. That explains everything, and assures me that I should at least have something decent to vote for. I do. This is...okay. Which is sufficient.

Why is this is a menu theme? This is actually a good song, unlike the first match of meh vs. awful.

Patronus is like the most JRPG thing ever, but it actually works. It's like Exa Pico music if Exa Pico music were actually good. Can I vote to get rid of both of the songs in the first match and have these two rematch in Round 2?

This ToC match is really quality, too. I saw Skyclad Observer and penciled in the vote, but I'd forgotten how good Rapal was! Then I remembered why I was ready to vote for Skyclad Observer right away.

Skyclad Observer >>>>>>> Rapal >> Patronus anata no shugo > Main Menu >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Fucking in Heaven (Simons GT Mix) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Fire Island Volcano


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Fire Island Volcano
Patronus anata no shugo
Skyclad Observer

Fire Island Volcano
Main Menu
Rapal

Fire Island Volcano
Patronus anata no shugo

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Fire Island Volcano
Patronus ~anata no shugo~
Rapal

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Fire Island Volcano
Main Menu
Skyclad Observer

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Fire Island
Patronus
uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh normally I think I'd vote Skyclad but I'm in more of a Rapal mood now

almost voted MAIN MEN too which is not normally how I'd view that match either

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Fire Island Volcano
Patronus anata no shugo
Rapal

Fucking in Heaven is less of a meme song than I expected from the title and people's reactions to it. It sounds pretty standard for what I'd expect from a racing game. If you showed me it without the title, I wouldn't even know.

Patronus is a rare case where high pitched female Japanese vocals don't turn me off of a song. I like everything else that's going on it it. Main Menu is a main menu.

Third match is boring.

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-hotdogturtle-- posted...

Third match is boring.

I suspect you're probably alone on that island.

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Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon - Fire Island Volcano
Top Gear Rally - MAIN MEN
Steins;Gate - Skyclad Observer

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f***ing In Heaven (Simons Gt Mix)
Patronus anata no shugo
Skyclad Observer

About f***ing In Heaven (Simons Gt Mix), I'll just quote what Pablo said because we share the same opinion on this track.
PabloSmith posted...

F***ing In Heaven is probably one of the most fun pieces of vgm I've ever heard. Its got this infectious vibe to it that always makes me smile and bop my head to it whenever I listen to it. I really don't think there's anything that can compare to this track, its just that good.

Fire Island Volcano [9.3] > Fucking In Heaven (Simons Gt Mix) [7.8]
Main Menu [6.3] < Patronus anata no shugo [8.2]
Rapal > Skyclad Observer

im out of time
im out of time
edit: bolded things
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