Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 16! Octo v BREAD, Ico v Bingo, Ikou v Bfine Draw

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to Video Game Music Contest 15, an annual celebration of the best of the best video game music according to the voters!

Important Links:
Bracket: https://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=474630
Contest info sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16XAaBMDuUnQ4c5AxQNL9ZhvD7VG5kQyrXWWZxnkrn-o
Contest discussion thread: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79443554
Main bracket playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT3m7iohpL0xt7lOF1eB-H4NpAaF1yAnU
Compatibility sheet (courtesy of Haste!!): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iGYWo_ifr_p2uYpD_I6TwBQS2tm7zJtPCxYZfRJcG8I
Last years spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VNrPnFRI7nJ4PqFiURBW0NWqxvXiuasoq8Sn_O169ss
VGMC total stats sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K1XdLWiUKB2kX99qYBgnRbLU_sCz4dvZSByKKJHCT6o
Discord: https://discord.gg/WDvMS4a

Rules:
- Listen to both songs in a given match, at least through the loop time provided (to make sure you don't skip before you've heard the whole thing!)
- Please consider the loop point listed when judging the song; if a video loops one minute 5 times, don't treat it as if it's a repetitive 5 minute song
- If it's a match between your favorite song ever and a song you despise, still LISTEN TO BOTH! Votes can and will be disqualified if there is suspicion songs are not being listened to, and you may be discounted for the rest of the contest for repeat offenses.
- No alt accounts, no rallying or begging, etc., etc.... You only get one vote! Swapping votes is alright, just make clear that you've already made a vote and are swapping.
- Make clear what your voting options are! Please keep votes separate from any comments, and use the titles given in the topic post.
- Voting in all matches is not mandatory, feel free to skip matches you do not wish to vote in.
- Vote based on the links provided, and not other sources of audio. Links are specifically chosen for best quality and the like.
- Don't discuss vote tallies in this thread, or in other threads, as they may influence votes. Likewise, please refrain from looking at the running tally before voting.

Voting Period:
- Today's matches will last 24 hours from the time of posting, or 24 hours from 10pm Eastern, whichever is the later time.
- Please note this may mean that two topics will be active at the same time!
- If you anticipate being unable

Octopunch
Bingo Highway
Ikou

jesus fine i'll play shallie soon god

"we didnt put any songs that were similar together in round 1 matches" - deoxtricity, noted liar

child singers are hit or miss for me... and by that I mean miss, mostly. not bad at all here just... I don't care. I notice and hear the good things this song does and I don't care

what the hell?

this is probably the most obviously cakao song I've ever heard

solid mood and personality. doesn't stand out at all in a contest setting but it's a nice song that'd i'd be glad to hear in-game

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Octopunch
You Were There
The Fine Draw
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funny emoji
You Were There
The Fine Draw

BREADY STEADY GO absolutely did not deserve this
bingo highway teases me with hints of a good song but never actually does anything with them and it annoys me
National Park (Genesis ver.)

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Octopunch
Bingo Highway
The Fine Draw

Octopunch
You Were There
Ikou (Authority)

Tough first match I had to go back to. Less tough second and third.

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Octopunch
Bingo Highway
The Fine Draw

Atelier Shallie - I am simple man. I hear accordion sounds that aren't trying to tug at heartstrings, I enjoy. This song has whimsy, a good bassline, a good melody and a good melody, and even coming as the outsider like "what is the big deal with it?" it's pretty cool.
OMORI - Oh dear, it's an accordion-off. This one's got more tempo, better percussion, and tries to use the accordion as its main melody, and succeeds admirably, but ultimately I need to vote, today, for the one that is a bit sweeter with it.

Ico - Starts with anxiety, and then goes into a chill acoustic melody with light vocals. I want to like this song, but the actual singing is simultaneously far too quiet compared to the accompaniment, and it is far, far too high-pitched for me.
Sonic Heroes - It's a wonderful, in-your-face cacophony of electronic slot-poker noises and DAMN IT I LOVE IT. I think what strikes me most about it is the "modern Sonic guitar" is at most an afterthought of a staccato background instrument while the percussion and beep-boops take center stage.

NieRe[in]carnation - I am firmly in the "like most Nier music" camp (Weight of the World notwithstanding) and this one is good... for a little while, anyway. Then the lyrics pop in, and it remains pretty good, but I kind of wish it went somewhere else during the song.
Minnesota Fats - A chiptuney sports lounge done right. Given I don't like a lot of Genesis tracks, I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did, but I actually did, with the only gripe being the xylo-style synth was a bit too strong for the rest of the track. It does speak volumes, however, that I'm voting this over Nier >_>;

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BREADY STEADY GO
Bingo Highway
Ikou (Authority)

Always thought Octopunch was a little overrated. Still good, just overrated. BSG is pretty good. Close match!

You Were There sucks. Bingo is fun-ish.

I like a lot of Nier songs more than Ikou. A lot. It's okay at least. Fine Draw is not.

BREADY STEADY GO > Octopunch > Ikou (Authority) > Bingo Highway > The Fine Draw > You Were There
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Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Octopunch
Ico - You Were There
NieR Re[in]carnation - Ikou (Authority)

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Octo
Ico
Iko

well.
bingo highway is like pokemon emerald battle factory but with guitars (oh so that's why people like it). too bad it ended in a pure evil match
also a not very fine draw. secretly even though iko is my nom (and probably the only one with any hope at all of getting past r3 maybe? still probably doomed r2) and likely my favourite draknieryukiyunagard song and also still one of my top favourites in the bracket too, i'm rooting for fine draw

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Octopunch
Ico - You Were There
NieR Re[in]carnation - Ikou (Authority)
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Octopunch (1st) vs BREADY STEADY GO (193rd)
You Were There (65th) vs Bingo Highway (21st)
Ikou (Authority) (103rd) vs The Fine Draw (253rd)

WHOA IS THAT REALLY IT?!?! my faovorite song in the contest squidslog unpchcucpuncuhcpunchu there are only four songs that could possibly be here today and push it to 2nd or lower in contest...... (actually one almost made contest but proof's one more vote never came lol) ironically it was 3rd in vgmc12 at the time, tho today it would be 2nd. anyway i'll repost my writeup from rtvgm: YANAGAWA ARE YOU REAL every time i hear this song i wanna get up anD GO PUNCH A DAMN OCTOPUS HOW IS THIS SONG REAL like actually. how was it possible to make a combination of all these elements work like a fucking dream?? you have ""world instrument"" extrodinaires mr. accordion and mrs. strings meeting up with fucking edm bass kicks and THAT ABSOLUTELY DIRTY DIRTY BASS LINE AT 1:13 SOMEONE PUT THIS SONG IN THE SHOWER WOW SLUURURURPRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP it up it's just perfect. actual slapper. slapper the octiopsu fist facing leflt aaaaaaaa..

second match is EVIL i love both of these songs soooo much for COMPLETELY DIFFERENT REASONS which is probably why this match is a thing... even though i definitely want bingo to win i will be happy with either of these winning~~ cause.... theyre fighting octo anyway ;;

nier vs "volume is either on or off, and not on an NES triangle channel"

Octopunch
You Were There
Ikou (Authority)

Octopunch (7.3 - 42nd place) / BREADY STEADY GO (4.8^ - 62nd place)
You Were There (9.3 - 6th place) / Bingo Highway (7.7 - 32nd place)
Ikou (Authority) (9.8 - 1st place) / The Fine Draw (7.6v - 34th place)

I prefer Stella Part 2 to Octopunch. Some great stuff in it (particularly at 0:40 and the cool key change when it repeats) though the electric guitar solo later kind of ruins it :[ You Were There - I like the unexpected chords at 1:52! Actually, I like a lot more than just that. Stylistically it's very much my thing. Hoping the retiree in this division is going to be one of Gentle Slope Cave, You Were There, or Ikou Authority. Sonic Heroes has good music, huh? Cool.

Ikou (Authority) is THE best new discovery of the entire contest to me. The chords remind me of Caravan Stories' Raging Spirits... well, I doubt they're the same, it's more like a stylistic similarity than a harmonic similarity. Not entirely sure I'd put it above Gentle Slope Cave, but I felt I should give it the benefit of the doubt. The Fine Draw sounds like it was taken straight out of Pokemon DPP! ...well, I'm pretty sure this style of music (some form of smooth jazz I guess) has been around for decades, but still!

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Octopunch
Bingo Highway
The Fine Draw

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Octopunch
Bingo Highway
The Fine Draw

Match 1 is frustratingly close. I may do a double-check re-listen later
Match 2 is frustratingly un-close. My opinion won't change here.
Match 3, I'd've totally flipped my vote here if Ikou stopped & just looped at 1:35.

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heh i like the octo vs bread match

the octo song bugs me because it feels like the guitar is playing the wrong chords during the little walkups at 2:01-2:05 and 2:15-2:18. Like it should be going outside the key and playing some chromatic chords rather than simple walkups

bready steady go lacks anything that annoys me and the energy level stays pretty consistent throughout and it's got a million little sections

actually i listened to the stuff i disliked in the octo song a bunch more times and tried to find a better chord progression for what i was hearing and couldn't so i have changed my mind and now i prefer octopunch to bready steady go

You Were There is cool. Singer sounds like she's (he's? apparently it's a child so who knows) singing backwards. Sometimes the drums feel literally completely random in a way that I don't like though.

Bingo Highway is a lot more instantly likable imo. Liked the dissonant chiptune solo. I guess you can afford to get really harmonically weird for a general audience when the whole song spends all its time on one chord. It kind of spends a lot of time in a holding pattern towards the end but I immediately went back to listen to it again so I clearly liked it. And I liked it at least as much the second time. Probably my favorite song so far.

Ikou is not an interesting song. It's like the composer thought they'd get a pat on the back for writing a song in a weird time signature and that's the whole song. Random 8th notes in the strings and piano and abruptly-ending measures and that's about it. FFX's OST has lots of songs like this, go listen to the Penance battle theme if you like this. Or Hollow Bastion from Kingdom Hearts.

The Fine Draw is cute as heck. Lots of fun little rhythmic things and spicy chords. And it loops for me, how nice <3

votes:

Octopunch
Bingo Highway
The Fine Draw

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Octopunch
You Were There
Ikou (Authority)

More nasty nasty matches.

A lot of good retirement options for the most part from the lower half of this quadrant.

You Were There [9]
Octopunch [8.5]
Bingo Highway [8.5]
Bready Steady Go [8.5]
Ikou (Authority) [8.5]
The Fine Draw [5]

Octopunch
You Were There
Ikou (Authority)

Hey thanks to everyone who nominated Ikou, because I probably wouldn't have listened to Re[in]carnation normally and this is now by far my favorite thing I've ever heard by Keiichi Okabe in my entire life

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This poll be like mOdeRN proBLEmS reqUIrE ModeRn sOlutIONS

Octopunch
You Were There
Ikou (Authority)

DAY 4 GIVE IT UP FOR DAY 4 (of all top options)

Huh, there's always been a song I have immediate thoughts on but I'm not feeling that today? I guess I can talk about how I stumbled upon Ikou during my search for potential first-day noms - I wrote it down as "Opening Movie BGM 3" or something from the video title lmao. In the end, I decided that Mycakao would probably like it but it didn't really stand out to me personally or as something that would do well in the bracket (also the title I had sounded way too lame). It does seem like it got a somewhat favourable seeding so maybe I've underestimated it!!!

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Octopunch
You Were There
The Fine Draw

For the record I like yesterday's winners, even tho i didn't get to vote in time. Yknow life is hard and health comes first, and I didn't have time to get my vote out, but I'm honestly fine.

Octopunch
Bingo Highway
The Fine Draw

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BREADY STEADY GO
Bingo Highway
Ikou (Authority)

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Octopunch
Ico - You Were There
NieR Re[in]carnation - Ikou (Authority)

MATCH 1

Octopunch is a fun song! A lot of the instruments here like the accordion and percussion as well as others are very playful and I like that. The guitar solo's a nice touch to the song as well. I like Stella Part 2 more, but there's a lot to like in Octopunch, even if there are other songs I prefer from the Atelier games and Shallie in particular (side note that Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze is my favorite Shallie song and is very high up in the list of favorite Atelier songs as a whole).

BREADY STEADY GO is pretty similar to Octopunch in its playful instrumentation. I also think it's a cool song, but I definitely like Octopunch more. The accordion melody in this song is nice, but I'd say Octopunch's melody wins out here. On top of that, I don't like the inclusion of 1:31-1:54.

MATCH 2

You Were There is a pretty pleasant song. I'd probably file this under "I like alt rock" as my reason for enjoying this. It's softer than, say, Love Psalm, but I still like the overall vibe that You Were There has. Nice chord progression and vocal melody.

There are some things I like about Bingo Highway, and a greater amount of things I don't like about it. I like the guitar chords and the melodic bit that come in at 0:13. I don't like any of the electronic stuff in this song though, which really overpowers the stuff I do like, in my opinion.

MATCH 3

Other than linkage-alter and over-nove, Ikou's probably the biggest me-Tox overlap song in the whole contest. And I wouldn't be surprised if Tox likes this song more than both xaki songs, so maybe this is true even when taking those songs into consideration. But yeah, Ikou's great and I probably like this more than most OG Nier songs! I love the interplay of all the different melodic lines in this song. I'm sure it helps that they all sound good on their own, but the harmonies that result from all of these layers being combined is so awesome! I like Haste's Raging Spirits comparison because I definitely see it! I'd say there's some harmonic similarities between the two as well as stylistic ones. And of course, I really like Raging Spirits as well. Perhaps for some of the same reasons?

I definitely got DPP vibes from The Fine Draw as well! That's my favorite main series Pokemon soundtrack, so I guess that makes sense as to why I like The Fine Draw. It's not quite as good as a lot of the songs I like from those games, but it's still a nice sounding song. I'm sure I like it more than its ranking for today would suggest.

Ikou (Authority) > Octopunch > You Were There > BREADY STEADY GO > The Fine Draw > Bingo Highway

Octopunch
Bingo Highway
The Fine Draw

You Were There starts off so good, and then the keyboard kicks in, and then the vocals. Darn.
Match 3 is funny, really giving Fats the short end of the cue.

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BREADY STEADY GO
You Were There
The Fine Draw

Wow, the best way I can describe BREAD is that it's just "a better Octopunch". Octopunch is sort of in that situation similar to RftM where we should focus more attention onto other songs in the franchise. Like it's decent and all, but it feels like everyone just jumped to this the moment Slag Dance retired >_>

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You Were There is a very relaxing and pretty song. The instruments and chord progression remind me of a specific something else, but I can't think of whatever it is. Bingo Highway has some hype sections at parts, it's at its best when the chiptune is going crazy.

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Ikou sounds just like the newer Final Fantasy music (generally prefer the classics >_>). The Fine Draw loops after one minute, but still manages to pack in a more fleshed out idea. It's kinda nice hearing this kind of retro VGM from time to time.

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BREADY STEADY GO
You Were There
Ikou (Authority)

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oh yeah since i didn't post my rankings before since i was on my phone

8.Iko
12.Ico
26.Bingo
50.Chicago (Minnesota)
64.Octo
78.GO

UF8 posted...

Iko
Ico
Bingo
Chicago
Octo
GO

wow that has a nice ring to it

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Octopunch
You Were There
Ikou (Authority)

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Punch
Bingo
Draw
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Octopunch (sorry bread, you will be missed)
You Were There
The Fine Draw

Octopunch
Bingo Highway
Ikou (Authority)

-(i really like kazuki yanagawa, though this doesn't sound very much like him to me beyond the instrumentation i guess. this song has fun piano plinks and fun accordion and all that stuff. there's certain things about the actual composition that prevent me from liking it as much as i could...too much emphasis on the chromatic alterations to the scale that are TOO PLAYFUL for me *makes artificially stoic expression to pretend to be 'tough and cool'* but when i focus on the actual chords i am more into it because it starts to remind me of "professor layton")-

-[this song is like the frantic waitress is being so epic in europe "yeah" "go" just like sonic. sonic is so fast and he doesn't like me. being the harmonic minor business queen. how "interesting" it is becoming very distorted and loud just like gamers]-

-{the match of the rich people accordion songs}-

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-(it's really easy to instantly sell me on a track if it has electric piano...especially these dx7-esque fm bell types. they're so pretty and always visually have so much TEXTURE that is like a "snowflake" but really big so you can see all of the scary symmetrical spikes. the strange sounds at the end and beginning of this track are so cool and "giftpia". This song always reminds me of something specific but i can never put my finger on exactly what. probably some Mannheim steamroller christmas thing LOL. the fretless bass is so CHRONO CROSS COOL MOMENTS. the string of modulations from 2:03 - 2:17 is that sort of thing i really look for with the overwhelming FLOATING IN THE AIR (pat methen-*dies because of being SHOT by the IMAGINARY comic relief character that shoots toxtricity for comparing too many things to the same 2 things all the time*)-

-[bingo highway more like "BITCH high way" ok so i've always been a big fan of this song, one of my favorites from this game. Initially it hadn't accelerated to quite the position in my "favorite sonic songs" it's at now, i think what sold me on it was my brother pointing out how cool it's particular brand of atonal wacky dissonance is, that i sorta filtered out when younger. Moments like 0:48-1:13, it's not like literally random notes for sure, there's patterns here and they just sound viscerally fucking cool, that bit feels really soloistic. and then i especially love 1:13-1:35 which is dominantly WHOLE TONE and i certainly have....an affinity for that. amazing INSIDE A COMPUTER notes but in a lot more overtly abrasive of a way than Navi Customizer from yesterday, and i'm all for it. in general a fan of the totally wacky sound design all around. bitcrushing around :45 is a favorite moment. rse battle factory is a cool comparison that i am glad that uf8 has made]-

-{painful match, two songs i love for extremely different reasons. but in the end bingo is the one i save and willingly return to way more often, but that feels like i'm biased because of familiarity for it, may come back to this and see if my feelings change. like. in my rankings below i moved ico you were there around by like 20-30 slots back and forth so it /could/ go above bingo highway because i'm so indecisive about how much i like it}-

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-(ok here we got STEVE REICH PASTICHE, my favorite genre of music! i'm glad this song doesn't ever develop into anything or it would BREAK the cool infinite tension zone man. this category of minimalist reich-esque piano drenched stuff is just exactly my thing and this is that at the same time as being like somehow emotionally kinda dark and intense? like i go out of my way to drown myself in this style and this is imo a cut above most of it for the way it's able to still keep itself exciting and dramatic while simultaneously overloading itself with its own mathematical layers of separate lines of repetition.
~~~~~
i like how this song is actually NOT in odd time but sounds like it is because there are so many things going on at the same time and the ostinati patterns are so longwinded. lots of over-the-barline 7+9 stuff. these patterns are ambiguous where their starts and ends are and that's a very specific detail i think is actually hard to find in any other examples quite like this! Reminds me a lot of TO THE ULTIMATE RELIC from THREADS OF FATE (which is my "3rd favorite song ever") because of all that, all the interlocking patterns that in the end still add up to "4" secretly. It just makes for a really surreal experience to me that other tracks in a similar vein actually often don't quite hit, just the right balance of that minimalist pensive neutrality, and "there's something serious going down". oh and then we get the cool vocals! I like those! unlike "HidekuniHorita (board 8 user)" i'd gotten into Keiichi Okabe/nier music in general lately, but this song blew my already recently high expectations out of the water and i'm super glad UF8 nominated it otherwise i might not have heard it!
~~~~~
i want to live in constant 16th piano harp bells hell hole forever. i like music that sounds like an evil ancient computer made out of rocks. i'm glad that even if it's technically a pretty niche style in the end that bores or confuses a lot of people, that there's certainly a tiny fanbase for it here. thank you uf8, kao, cako, and all the fun friends who like this song or songs similar to this song here~! and pleasantly surprised to see this particular example being appealing to many who don't necessarily even typically overlap with my tastes!)-

-[tthe fine draw is the kind of song i would have liked in 2009 because i automatically liked any thing fm synth at the time and automatically liked anything jazzy too and hadn't gotten pretentious about jazz yet. i like the electric piano fm timbres but i like "you were there" more which has the same sorts of sounds without sounding so BLOCKY. genesis music can be certainly much more nuanced than this is, which is necesary for jazz, that would be a detractor but this isn't as fake and hokey as it could be luckily, the big chords save it. anyways jazz harmony is cool and i like that being in this song, the harmony here is really good and legit chill and i like that. i am nostalgaic for 2009 when i would have nominated some random song that sounds like this song]-

-{what a "2021 me vs 2009 me" match. version of me that "hated nier music" would be very confused seeing this post from me in the future, though might understand it after listening t othe songs}-

Ikou (Authority) (6th/94)
Bingo Highway (21st/94)
You Were There (38th/94)
Octopunch (76th/94)
The Fine Draw (79th/94)
BREADY STEADY GO (88th/94)
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Octopunch
Bingo Highway
Ikou (Authority)

Octopunch
You Were There
The Fine Draw

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BREADY STEADY GO
You Were There
The Fine Draw

BREADY STEADY GO
You Were There
The Fine Draw
minesotta fats stay winning banger soundtrack uh. second round kinda mid didn't care for either song that much

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BREADY STEADY GO
Bingo Highway
Ikou (Authority)

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Octopunch
Bingo Highway
Ikou (Authority)

Octopunch
You Were There
The Fine Draw
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Octopunch
You Were There
The Fine Draw

I usually find most of the songs enjoyable, but today, it seems, is the height of that energy. particularly match 2 and 3. essentially four songs I enjoy for different reasons. I'm done. I'm deceased.

Octopunch holds the distinction of being a song I just barely avoided throwing my support in because I was an idiot who forgot it was locked in. So there's that stellar distinction I guess.

BREADY STEADY GO
You Were There
The Fine Draw

Octopunch
You Were There
Ikou (Authority)

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Octopunch
Bingo Highway
Authority

Just want to add that Bready Steady Go is really, really good, and I am super sad to see it thrown to the ~~wolves~~octopuses like this.
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Octopunch
You Were There
Ikou (Authority)

Octo
Bingo
Ikou

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Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Octopunch [7.0]
Sonic Heroes - BINGO Highway [9.5]
NieR Re[in]carnation - Ikou (Authority) [9.0]

OMORI - BREADY STEADY GO [6.0]
Ico - You Were There [9.0]
Minnesota Fats: Pool Legend - The Fine Draw [6.0]

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Octopunch
You Were There
The Fine Draw

Vocals on You Were There are eh but the rest of the song makes up for it.
I'm both confused and happy to see Fats in the contest

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Octopunch
You Were There
Ikou (Authority)

Octopunch
Bingo Highway
The Fine Draw

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OMORI - BREADY STEADY GO
Sonic Heroes - Bingo Highway
Minnesota Fats: Pool Legend - The Fine Draw

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