Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 39! Dangan v Blue Line, Vast Poni vs Kuja, TtHorizon v FLIGHTLESS

(+) 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 match

Blue Line
Vast Poni
Hello Penguin

Actually pretty nice. Regardless, regrettably generic, except for the more calm background later in the song, which I think fits poorly enough that I thought music from another game was leaking somehow

I CAN SHOW YOU THE WORLD

Oh hell yeah. A lot of SM music I'm kind of whatever about, and then something like this or Ten Carat will smack me in the face. Kind of ambivalent about the flute's introduction, but the rest is pretty great. It's like I'm trying to resist parts of this song and can't, because it's too charming. Succeeds where Puzzle Plank fails

so i guess we're going with this cronchy upload still, huh? wouldn't have saved it.

stop ruining songs i should like camelia

this match will definitely have the highest percentage of people who can't stand either song. you can tell, when one song is dubstep rhythm seizure and the other is the MOST MYCRO SONG OF ALL TIME. his #1 in the contest will definitely alienate people

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Into Free
Vast Poni Canyon
FLIGHTLESS

THE WIND IS PUSHING ME
pokemon!
flightless my beloved vs wubs

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Blue Line (Instrumental)
Vast Poni Canyon
FLIGHTLESS

The most stacked day of the contest. I loved Into Free, but I loved Blue Line even more & almost loved Poni Canyon as much as those two. And the other songs are also pretty great!
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Into Free -Dangan-
Vast Poni Canyon
FLIGHTLESS

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Into Free -Dangan-
The Dark Messenger
Towards the Horizon

the funny thing is dangan reminds me of other gran turismo music. also i hate this match with a passion why would this be a r1 match. at least it gives me an excuse to not actually vote for blue line which i will probably never get over being here due to being a "popular twitch streamer" memesong

i don't care that strongly about vast poni canyon but still poor poni

atelier nekomellia

speaking of camellia nekomata (yes i used both jokes) i need to get around to his albums since uh... planet shaper and crystallized 5-6 years ago oops

also no respect for the "classics" like bassdrop freaks and edm jumpers in the poll smh

Blue Line (Instrumental)
Vast Poni Canyon
Towards the Horizon

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Gran Turismo 2 - Blue Line (Instrumental)
Pokmon Sun and Moon - Vast Poni Canyon
REFLEC BEAT The Reflesia of Eternity - Towards the Horizon
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Into Free -Dangan-
The Dark Messenger
FLIGHTLESS

Blue Line is great and suffers from a tragic draw.

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Into Free -Dangan-
Vast Poni Canyon
Towards the Horizon

Into Free -Dangan-
The Dark Messenger
FLIGHTLESS

Blue Line (Instrumental)
Vast Poni Canyon
FLIGHTLESS

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Blue Line
Vast Poni Canyon
Towards The Horizon

Camellia pls calm down with the wubs. This song did not need you to go in that hard with them.

Blue Line [9]
Vast Poni Canyon [8]
Dangan [8]
Dark Messenger [6.5]
Towards The Horizon [5]
Flightless [4]

Blue Line (Instrumental)
The Dark Messenger
FLIGHTLESS

Into Free's intro actually reminds me a lot of this Moenia song (non-vgm)
https://youtu.be/3YfnK77B8jc
great electronic, synth rock band, which people often call "the mexican Depeche Mode", but in a good way. I keep wanting the melody of Into Free to follow the melody of En que momento? but it doesn't and when the vocals kick in, yeah I'll stick with Moenia lol. Blue Line is fantastic.
-
The Dark Messenger was one of my favorite discoveries of this contest. Poni is actually amazing too, just doesn't beat TDM as it's an old but gold song I've just discovered.
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Flightless is great all way through. Does feel like two songs in one, but they flow together so there's zero issues for me. My playlist is just that, songs ordered so they flow together. If were to render all my playlist into one video/song i would listen to all of it nonstop. This really feels like that.

Into Free -Dangan-
The Dark Messenger
FLIGHTLESS

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Into Free -Dangan-
Vast Poni Canyon
FLIGHTLESS

penguins are very cool animals i like them

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Into Free -Dangan-
Vast Poni Canyon
Towards the Horizon

Goodness, today is not good at all. Horizon is okay. Thank goodness for Poni

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Into Free -Dangan-
The Dark Messenger
Towards the Horizon

Into Free is pretty fun. I enjoy it. Blue Line is not so good.

VPC isn't good either. Bleh. Dark Messenger rocks at least, though holy fuck is this upload terrible.

Towards the Horizon great song! Glad to see this in the contest. People complaining about wubs are silly. Cut out the second half of Flightless and my opinion on it gets much more positive.

The Dark Messenger > Towards the Horizon > FLIGHTLESS > Into Free -Dangan- > Vast Poni Canyon > Blue Line
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Into Free -Dangan-
The Dark Messenger
FLIGHTLESS

Oh my god Dark Messenger is such a cheesy bad guy theme I can't stop seeing its personified form strutting down the runway at The 32nd Annual Villains' Fashion Show please send help

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Blue Line (Instrumental)
Vast Poni Canyon
Towards the Horizon

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Into Free -Dangan-
abstain for now
Towards the Horizon

Into Free -Dangan- (6.4 - 51st place) / Blue Line (Instrumental) (4.6^ - 60th place)
Vast Poni Canyon (7.8^ - 25th place) / The Dark Messenger (8.9 - 12th place)
Towards the Horizon (7.6 - 36th place) / FLIGHTLESS (6.8 - 46th place)

I really don't like the sax in Blue Line (too much like Kenny G, sorry, I don't like Kenny G very much) but everything else about it is fine....it has the occasional unexpected chord so I guess I'll raise the score a bit.

Vast Poni Canyon is awesome... it's not among my favorites in the game, but I underrated it, nonetheless~! (Sun/Moon is my FAVORITE OST in the main series) 0:32 is awesome...love the chords in this section, plus I love the flatting of the 5th swapping with the perfect 5th there, and I love the melody anticipating the tonic at 0:48, and I love the odd note to end the phrase at 1:07...well, I could go on and on about little compositional details.

I love the Dark Messenger, too, though... definitely a good choice of Uematsu. Not really a fan of the organ solo at the start., though... I much prefer when it goes jazzy. I don't think it ever uses more than three or four instruments at once, but it's full of suspense, particuarly when it starts chanigng keys every phrase. And I LOVE the harp's unexpected entrance at 2:13...oops, I mean a piano! I just love how the music climaxes in a calm/mystical/haunting sort of way with that piano... cool stuff!

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Into Free -Dangan-
The Dark Messenger
FLIGHTLESS

Into Free -Dangan-
Vast Poni Canyon
FLIGHTLESS

Y'know I just now realized that Dragon's Dogma and Dragon Age aren't the same thing >_>. This one's a pretty cool song, the vocals are kinda off but in a cool way??

Blue Line reminds me of Kenny G (am I the only one who actually likes Kenny G?). Close match though.

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Vast Poni Canyon has a real cool FUNK to it, short song but it's fun.

Dark Messenger has a really cheap sounding soundset to it. It sounding like it was recorded on a 2005 Nokia flipphone doesn't help its case either, but this is still that weird PS1 era sound where it's more high tech than the SNES soundchip but doesn't really sound clean enough either. Not the best Uematsu work.

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Towards the Horizon is another atelier nekomata type song, but with DUBSTEP (I actually don't like dubstep ). It doesn't hurt it too much here.

FLIGHTLESS I've cooled down on how much I love it from last time it was in VGMC, but it's still really cool.

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Blue Line (Instrumental)
Vast Poni Canyon
Towards the Horizon

Great songs today, one of the best 6-pack for me !

Into Free -Dangan- (60th) vs Blue Line (Instrumental) (179th)
Vast Poni Canyon (57th) vs The Dark Messenger (151st)
Towards the Horizon (98th) vs FLIGHTLESS (247th)

flightless pls fly away now

UF8 posted...

also no respect for the "classics" like bassdrop freaks and edm jumpers in the poll smh

i spent too long on what songs i wanted to put in and then realized there was too much and it would just be a personal favorites poll so i went with vgmc + mad rat + memes lol

otherwise LOST TECHNOLOGIE would be on there 100% (lost tech vgmc16 lets go)

Blue Line (Instrumental)
Vast Poni Canyon
Towards the Horizon

Blue Line (Instrumental)
The Dark Messenger
FLIGHTLESS

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Blue
Canyon
Flightless

I apparently don't know how to vote anymore, so sorry for the deleted posts.
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Into Free -Dangan-
The Dark Messenger
FLIGHTLESS

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banshiryuu posted...

i spent too long on what songs i wanted to put in and then realized there was too much and it would just be a personal favorites poll so i went with vgmc + mad rat + memes lol

Mad Penguin Dead - Flightless being

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Into Free -Dangan-
Vast Poni Canyon
Towards the Horizon

-(i listened to this song and blue line about 400 times when making my favorites bracket because i kept forgetting what either of them sounded like and i still don't even remember what i voted for there; or have a clue what i am going to vote for today. lets find out? ? ? ? Oh right this was the song where i watched this funny video:
https://youtu.be/JTH-gdNt4EY
~~~~~
although many of the things i complain about happen to be cliches, i think it's inaccurate to say that i dislike cliches inherently. this is a situation where the cliches that are almost entirely ones i'm VERY into, hugely. i like the chord progression a LOT in particular. lotsa cool mid-2000s feeling electronic+rock merged infusions as well that make me think of "linkin park" which i like but i think no one would compare this to. for whatever reason i find it difficult to remember anything that happens in the track, but i've never seen that as a bad thing. in this case it excites me because every time i open up the song i don't remember anything other than that "i kinda like it" and it's a fun surprise every time!)-

-[this song is NOT A REAL SONG and it's proof that all olf the ceramic men that watch youtube are "fakers" from the "illusion realm" that are just "pretending" to like video game music, but actually HATE music and only pretend the like a song because of a famous video. I know why: because i can read this song's mind. It sounds like "john boys" and that's always a useful thing for a meme(vaporwave) which is a lie, and that means you are a jargon manipulator, using "words" for personal gain just like a game journalist. I'm friends with some game journalists thWOW i really love the old sounds in the song : ) that's so happy ! This song sounds like it would be a song i don't like as much as other songs on a t-square/casiopea album but still like listening to because i like the albums. jazz fusion is pretty nice, have you heard that i like that?. there's lots of powerful moments like when there's more instruments than the parts right before it when there's less of them. the "gospel choir" is something that my brother always likes because it reminds him of nostalgaic movies in the 90s but i never was as attracted to that aspect of this sorta thing, but i like it here because it reminds me of someone else who likes it.... wtf there's a part where theres a plucked string that means it's pokemon mystey dungeon 2. what an emotional dramatic song]-

-{being nice to people without being mean to other people in the process of being nice to one person is VERY HARD}-

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-(Oh hey it is Hitomi Sato again ! She is the gamefreak composer i like the most! hmm i think this video is lower quality than it could be too oops (note: i listened to ff9 the dark messenger first, so this will read as a nonsequitor). one thing i really appreciate about this is the KORG M1 PRESETS (that pan flute) in a song from 2016 (though i think they're the same presets showing up in newer sound libraries, doesn't change that she's clearly attracted to these older sounds as a sound source). it's not like i just like "90s" (1987) synths because they're nostalgic, but the tropes of sound design in the era always led to these super shiny timbres that make me so happy to hear enter my ears~! they feel so much more colorful and vivid than the common synth sounds of any other period, and with how difficult it can be to authentically re-create older periods, or even how maligned the sounds are as a result of them reading as "dated" to people. well. i' am just HAPPY to hear it in 2016 song so shamelessly
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in terms of composition this song has fun bouncy syncopation, i like when a loop a song bases itself around is all jumpy like this. this is like a HAPPY version of why i like sciv clockwork mansion (ok actually the more obvious comparison is Picture of a Ghost Ship because "90s synths" lol). interesting jazzy harmonies all over the place because hitomi sato likes that thing, that's what you call that....the weird slightly off empty break at :53-1:00 is so cool...it's like you're standing on a cliff side and playing your flute mournfully and forgetting how fast the song of the enigmatic world that portrays hope and genuine ha
~~~~~
(gen 7 is my favorite mainline pokemon gen "in terms of music" but so is 4, which would make me say "haha i am the same as dire" except that black2/white2 specifically is tied with 4/7 for me "oops" so now dire HATES me (this is a joke, i know that dire does not hate me )) is. a big part of why i like 4/7/b2w2 so much is the heavy jazz focus in all 3, and i could certainly blame the composer distribution as part of why (with hitomi sato / go ichinose being the main dominant force duo on all 3, and certainly writing my favorite songs in all 3), but it's also clearly an aesthetic decision. It makes sense, 4 is rural so it needs things that feel folky and "comfy" and jazz harmonies evoke that well, as well as soloistic jazzy melodies, no matter what instrument they're played by. 5 is "urban" and jazz represents cities because "new york has a trumpet in it", and 7 is Hawaii so it is the same thing as 4 except hot instead of cold and also i think sometimes traditional hawaiian music has chords that happen to be the same chords as "jazz chords" and regardless it lines up with the "jazz chords feel relaxing" tone and leaning into the stereotype that Hawaii is the place you go on vacation and that people do not live there. there is absolutely no one that has ever lived in Hawaii ever, it is onyl for going on vacation to and also isn't actually real, sort of like mirage island)-

-[oops i forgot to pester deo to replace the video here (or bother to try to replace it myself). i hope that no one is too mad at me : ( though i'm not sure what effect it would even have or even where the better links on yt currently are. i think that uematsu is good at composition but his arrangements are mechanical and rigid to a point that i find difficult to appreciate. the base composition here is really cool and i'd probably love to hear this performed live, especially sections like :55-1:02. Literal overt "prog" influence as in actual acknowledged being inspired by Emerson Lake & Palmer and stuff; and that shows up over uematsu stuff a lot but this isn't my favorite example of stuff with that element. still, always a fan of rock organ as a sound]-

-{there is no such thing as hawaii}-

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-(WHY IS DORIAN MODE THE BEST SCALE it sounds like a jrpg. this reminds me weirdly strong of "epic celtic" pokemon gen 8 songs (and a couple minako adachi gen 6-7 songs) wtf; not sure if anyone else sees that. this is a compliment)-

-[this song is too short, and not weird enough. despite the very low ranking: I actually think there's some pretty amazing moments in this and i love everything glitchy/strange/trippy particularly, but they don't make up for the rest of stuff that i'm not a fan of. At first i thought my reaction was legit going to be "6.1/10, 256th out of 256!!" but that was before i realized there were a number of tracks in the contest i liked less. which said something for my positivity about the field as a whole! even what (i thought) was my least favorite song in the contest still had interesting things about it]-

-{penguins are so funny and marble whiz kid}-

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Vast Poni Canyon (69th/232)
Towards the Horizon (109th/232)
Into Free -Dangan- (128th/232)
Blue Line (143rd/232)
The Dark Messenger (189th/232)
FLIGHTLESS (227th/232)
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Blue Line (Instrumental)
Vast Poni Canyon
FLIGHTLESS

It pains me to vote against either song in match 1 or 2. Quality across the board.
I love FLIGHTLESS more than life itself, it scratches all kinds of musical itches. Number one (1) song in the contest, and an exponentially easier vote than the other two today. I enjoy Horizon though, despite it being a Camellia song, so I will give it credit for that

penguin

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Blue Line (Instrumental)
The Dark Messenger
Towards the Horizon

saxpohone (actually a close match)
evil thong man (actually a close match)
camellier nekomata (actually not close at all this is the best camellia song)

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Into Free -Dangan-
Vast Poni Canyon
Towards the Horizon

Blue Line (Instrumental)
Vast Poni Canyon
FLIGHTLESS

Wow, today was banging.

First match was pretty close. Dangan is a rock banger with plenty of interesting things going on throughout, but ultimately it loses out to the j a z z. Blue Line is just gorgeous, in harmony and melody and arrangement but I may be biased since I just love Masahiro Andoh's work, both in and outside of T-Square. Plus, he's one of my absolute favourite guitarists. It's hard to overstate how monumental his presence is in the world of j-fusion and subsequently VGM, so it stands to reason that he's very good at what he does. If I had to pick one composer I'd like to just meet and shake hands with, it'd probably be him.

Second match was also close. I came in fully expecting to vote for Uematsu's arena prog rock banger, but this is Pokmon music that I fucking adore??? Everything about Canyon just sits right with me, and the instrumentation is just chef's kiss. Either this is an exception to the rule or I'm being seriously Pokpilled right now. If it's the latter, I intend to fully embrace it.

CAMELLIAAAAA. Few electronic producers can have me pumping my fist and bouncing around like I'm at an actual party while also keeping me engaged in how amazingly detailed and atmospheric of a production it is. I know there's a lot of wub-averse people here, but his work is honestly just a goldmine. So why didn't I vote for Camellia? BECAUSE FLIGHTLESS IS SO GOOD. I could talk about how much I love all the wacky shit this song does, but I'd like to highlight how balanced it is. It's a long track, but never feels meandering cause it keeps evolving and providing fresh ear candy, but at the same time all this ear candy comes together into a cohesive experience where each part is sufficiently different while feeling like they're from the same song. It's a great compromise between fluffy and dense, between style and substance. Just really cool stuff all around.

Blue Line (Instrumental)
Vast Poni Canyon
Towards the Horizon

Into Free -Dangan-
The Dark Messenger
FLIGHTLESS

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Into Free -Dangan-
Vast Poni Canyon
FLIGHTLESS

Match 1: I find them both cheesy, but I'm going to go with my distaste for saxophone. Ugh, getting huge vocal-free "I Am The Wind" vibes from Blue Line.
Match 2: FF9 has so much good music, and then there's... well, Kuja's theme is INTERESTING, I'll give it that, but it is more confusing than enjoyable for me. I'm apathetic towards a lot of Sun/Moon's soundtrack, but this one's a good'un.
Match 3: Reflec beat: I don't wub it, at all. Penguins: kinda cool (but a LONG order, and lacks focus.) Do not listen in Midwestern states. With the thunderstorm and my half-asleep state right now, I kinda thought we were just having an actual tornado siren.


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Into Free -Dangan-
Vast Poni Canyon
Towards the Horizon
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Into Free -Dangan-
Vast Poni Canyon
Towards the Horizon

Into Free -Dangan-
Vast Poni Canyon
FLIGHTLESS


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Blue Line (Instrumental)
Vast Poni Canyon
Towards the Horizon

This doesn't affect my opinion of the song in the slightest, but I still can't get over Into Free being in one of those games that my friends who would only play gritty, realistic, western, dark fantasy rpg games (and maybe breath of the wild for some reason) like. I wish I was there when they heard this banger for the first time ...

Fellow solidarity to my fellow Blue Line fans who are not aware of it's apparent meme status.

I feel bad for voting against my favourite Final Fantasy game. I'll have to shower it in praises after this vote to return balance to the world. Vast Poni is just that good, man.

I really like the portion of flightless in like the 2-3 minute range (I am an idiot who failed to take note of approximations and I'm too scared of my shitty internet to fix that) but as I've said in Supra's Discord (twice!) I don't really personally see why it has to be ten minutes long.

Dragons Dogma - Into Free -Dangan-
Pokmon Sun and Moon - Vast Poni Canyon
Hello Penguin 2 HD - FLIGHTLESS

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Gran Turismo 2 - Blue Line (Instrumental)
Final Fantasy IX - The Dark Messenger
Hello Penguin 2 HD - FLIGHTLESS

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Into Free -Dangan-
Vast Poni Canyon
FLIGHTLESS

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Blue Line (Instrumental)
Vast Poni Canyon
Towards the Horizon


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Into Free -Dangan-
Vast Poni Canyon and all of our other sponsors
FLIGHTLESS
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Into Free -Dangan-
Vast Poni Canyon
FLIGHTLESS

My post-it for this literally states "either" for the first match...they're both SO GOOD, and I'd happily listen to them lots and lots.

Gran Turismo 2 - Blue Line (Instrumental)
Pokmon Sun and Moon - Vast Poni Canyon
Hello Penguin 2 HD - FLIGHTLESS
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Blue Line (Instrumental)
The Dark Messenger
FLIGHTLESS

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