Board 8 > [VGMC] d31: Dark Man Stage vs Night Gale, Infinite Dungeon 2 vs ChRoNiClESeVeN

(+) 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

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Dark Man Stage
https://youtu.be/d7fdQgcKNWg

Gravity Rush 2 - Night Gale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_xYIj39CnE

Match 2

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Infinite Dungeon 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05th2er6_VE

7th Dragon III Code:

Dark Man Stage
Infinite Dungeon 2

wait, wasn't today supposed to be FCDH vs. Preserved Valkyria?
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Hbthebattle posted...

Dark Man Stage
Infinite Dungeon 2

wait, wasn't today supposed to be FCDH vs. Preserved Valkyria?

Yes. Fixing...

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ok

Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze
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oh god it's time for the most cursed quadrant

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Dark Man Stage
Infinite Dungeon 2
Preserved Valkyria
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Dark Man Stage
ChRoNiClESeVeN
Preserved Valkyria

DMS is good stuff. I like it quite a bit! NG's better than other GR songs I've heard too, so that's cool.

GTI's alright if a little repetitive. This isn't my VFD song of choice. Still solid.

Dark Man Stage = Preserved Valkyria > FCDH > ChRoNiClESeVeN = Night Gale > Infinite Dungeon 2
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Dark Man Stage
Infinite Dungeon 2
Preserved Valkyria

I love Dark Man Stage though Night Gale is still alright for a song with a less appealing instrumentation. Cool drama kick to it. Trumpets at :55 remind me of Brain Dead 13. It's alright but Dark Man Stage is my easy pick here it's great.

Match 2 is a bit frustrating with the Vocal Factor. If Chronicle7 didn't have the big bad vocal focus, it would be a very easy pick for me today. But it does, and the two songs here become far more equal as a result. ChronicleSeven has cool digital instrumentation, and a nice upbeat atmosphere with several cool fun parts in the tune scattered throughout, especially when there's no vocals. But when there are vocals I am unhappy. Infinite Dungeon 2 does not make me unhappy from vocals, but I'm notably less interested in the instrumentation, and it also does not have as fun of moments either. Still it is a good "triumphant exploration challenge" theme with no real complaints (And while the instrumentation is less my thing, it doesn't really focus on instruments I despise too much like high strings so it's still fine there). And of the two, Infinite Dungeon 2 is pretty distinctly what I'd rather listen to. Blame the vocals!

toc match maybe I can stop talking about toc with matches like this where in theory I'd have already talked about the opponents already sort of. Well, FCDH has a couple notable moments like 1:05 whereas PV seems pretty notable all the way through. "Notable" seems like the wrong word here but oh well.

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Dark Man Stage
7th Dragon III Code: VFD - ChRoNiClESeVeN
Atelier Shallie - Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze
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Dark Man Stage (26th) vs Night Gale (90th)
Infinite Dungeon 2 (160th) vs ChRoNiClESeVeN feat. Annabel (82nd)
Soaring Clouds, Drifting Haze [8th//7th] vs Preserved Valkyria [24th//19th]

Yaaay Dark Man is back!!!! I still love this remix a lot lmfao. I'm sure last year I went over the whole story of how I was working the night Ultimate music was coming out and I played this over loudspeaker and starting crying cause this song was so good while I was making peoples sandwiches and yeah that's a thing that happened. The fact that this advertises itself as a remix of song and then not only delivers on that, but also is A MEDLEY OF SUPER UNDERAPPRECIATED SONGS FROM ONE OF MY FAVORITE UNDERAPPRECIATED OSTS like whoooooooa yaaaay!! Beginning with the offkey Proto whistle is just so good and then using Get a Weapon as an intro. Oh my god it's too good. If there's one thing I appreciate Ultimate for the most, it absolutely is the MM5 OST love and I'm not even kidding. Unless they add a Bemani character as DLC, there's no way it'll not be that lol. I wish this was a completely one-side round for Dark Man Stage.... but Night Gale is super cool too!! Noooooooooooo!! My favorite part of this has to be the fake flute synth arps throughout the song, I love little flourishes like that but just the sound design in general is so cool to me. But that's not enough to dethrone the amazing Dark Man!

Infinite Dungeon 2 is pretty cool, but not really something I would ever really listen to on my own. Very nostalgic for... reasons very much related to how similar it is to other stuff I like a lot more from the series lol. PMD bells are so good!!! Yeah, nothing negative about it really, which really says a lot about the field since this is pretty comfortably "160th place" lol. ChRonIClIleSeNevenN by the hangnail in sasakure.UK's finger is VERY SASAKURE just like other 7th dragon 3 vocal songs who would've guessed!!! who also would've guessed it's really, really good just like the others!! this is actually my least favorite for sure of the three that have been in contests (but chant for sanctuary is actually pretty unremarkable so its not deadlast of the bunch) but it's still crazy cool. sasakure bleep bloop tech singing to you softly

alright well with DEMON TRUCK gone its time to help asano go on a romp lmao sorry penoreri

Soaring Clouds, Drifting Haze > Dark Man Stage > Preserved Valkyria > ChRoNiClESeVeN feat. Annabel > Night Gale > Infinite Dungeon 2

Night Gale
ChroniclesSeven
Atelier Shallie - Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

ID2 is really good too though.
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Night Gale
Infinite Dungeon 2
FCDH

I really enjoy Night Gale! Shame about its impending murder.

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Gravity Rush 2 - Night Gale
7th Dragon III Code: VFD - ChRoNiClESeVeN
Atelier Shallie - Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

lol I always know I like ChroniclesSeven but I always forget how much until I listen to it again (this was true well before this vgmc too)

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Dark Man Stage
Infinite Dungeon 2
Preserved Valkyria

Dark Man Stage (9.0) / Night Gale (6.5)
Infinite Dungeon 2 (9.0) / ChRoNiClESeVeN (7.0)

Another great day of music! Infinite Dungeon 2 embodies PMD instrumentation perfection... primitive drums kind of remind me of NieR. Celeste, yummy. Love some of those note choices, like that leading tone at 0:38. Music is epic when those chimes come in. Love the switch to slow triplet feel at 0:57. Flute and horn sampling is so good that it sounds like the real deal. I wonder why PSMD doesn't sound this good? Is it like this for the entire Gates to Infinity OST? I've been intending to listen to the OST but haven't gotten around to it yet. Edit: I'll just add that, at first I wasn't too impressed with it, but it grew on me a ton after listening to it a few times.

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Night Gale
Infinite Dungeon 2

Night Gale
ChRoNiClESeVeN
Preserved Valkyria

night gale is a very anime soundtrack song and i like that. dark man remix is good too but also just not enough to be much more than an okay smash ultimate song i like the style but still don't feel strongly enough about it

infinite dungeon 2 is not a song that makes me think of dungeons that are infinite but maybe ones that are (pmd)2. it's very nice. feels just barely short of something I'm fully into though and I'm not really sure why. chronicleseven also doesn't really make me think of dungeons go figure but it does make me think about how much of a boon sasakure.uk's contributions were to the already incredible yuzo-composed 7th dragon dungeon crawling games. not that that's much of a surprise, it's an already well-established fact that he's also great in his own right even if he doesn't necessarily have yuzo's wide range of different styles to be amazing in. anyway, i wish this match was closer to me since i really like both

it's nice getting to the point that even i'm coming to appreciate specific gust people's styles in various series and how they complement it as a whole... that said, pv still really great. surprising great match considering i didn't take either in favs but that's just how toc rolls.

2(nd options)

Dark Man Stage
ChRoNiClESeVeN
Preserved Valkyria

Night Gale
7th Dragon III Code: VFD - ChRoNiClESeVeN
Atelier Shallie - Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

My rule is generally I vote for Atelier. The song it's up against is pretty decent ho

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oh right also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzOedKcMuiA
i've been watching a touhou 16 stream today

Dark
Chronicles
Haze
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Dark Man Stage
ChRoNiClESeVeN
FCDH

Dark Man Stage
Infinite Dungeon 2
Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

This is a good day.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n5EDvlioWY
i've been watching a touhou 16 stream today

pretend i'm not reposting because the first link had hentai in it

Dark Man Stage
Infinite Dungeon 2
Preserved Valkyria

Dark Man Stage
Infinite Dungeon 2
Preserved Valkyria

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Dark Man Stage
Infinite Dungeon 2
Preserved Valkyria

Dark Man Stage is my 66th favorite in the contest! what i said last year still applies but i like it more now. MM5's my favorite NES MegaMAn game for music, for a while I liked Dark Man less than a lot of the other songs from the game but I think it's alright now. The arrangement is mostly what makes it for me though. Hiroki Morishita is one of my favorite composers and did most of my favorite Fire Emblem tracks and I think it's cool to see what his style sounds like outside of the imposed aesthetic of FE, he tackles electronic sound design REALLY well and it has the harmonies and stimulating detail i look for from his stuff. so much cool going on at once. all beneath a cool /medley/ of MM5 melodies, even if dark man's the focus! it all flows together incredibly naturally

Night Gale is my 132nd favorite in the contest! reminds me of some of my favorite tracks from the pokemon movies. very energetic and the solos are interestingly loose, well the sax solo at 3:07 is actually too un-loose and "melodic" for me but whatever. THIS FEELS LIKE ANIME probably because it is by Kohei Tanaka. I like stuff on the orchestral/jazz border and this is that, super full and expressive feeling. some cool angular string lines at the start and I like the constant 16ths backing it feels like a SIREN to alarm you about something. there are plenty of tracks from this game i like much more though, and other music of similar style that just happens to do more for me. I'm glad something of this vibe was picked though!

7

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Infinite Dungeon 2 is my 21st favorite in the contest! Gates to Infinity is what i usually say my favorite pmd (and pokemon overall) OST is. ~8th favorite game ost overall, that's a pretty big deal with how much VGM I listen to. Favorite soundtrack with any representative in this contest. Is this one of my favorite examples from the game? I didn't used to think it was, Plasman and some others would go on about this as an "underrated banger" in the discord and stuff and i was always just like "??" but now I'd agree. This one takes a bit to get going, part of why it doesn't immediately stand out compared to other pmd songs, but once :57 hits holy shit the rest of the track up until the loop is fucking insane. that straight 8ths vs. triplet polyrhythm comparison thing is just so so EXPLOSIVE, and everything following is just viscerally exciting music! I think maybe even the fact that the first minute isn't particularly immediately exciting is to its benefit, it makes the climax so much more powerful when it hits. and stuff like the comparison of the very simple on-beat chimes part at :45 compared to the weirder triplet polyrhythm stuff at :57 is some of my favorite things, hearing the same ideas compared in two very different feeling contexts rhythmically. Despite this being the highest quality version of the soundtrack i will say my reaction to the soundtrack's mixing is....mixed (ha ha) and this isn't one of the better examples. The muddiness of the instrumentation against itself drags this down a bit for me compared to other songs in this style (and compared to other songs from this game), but the composition is so SO good that I can't complain too much about that. I LOVE PAN FLUTES AND MARIMBAS AND OBOES this instrumentation makes me so happy i just wish i could hear it a bit more clearly! really just a minor complaint because i love this song so much and i know i could like it even more

ChRoNiClESeVeN is my 98th favorite in the contest! this is kinda the opposite of my reaction to inf dungeon 2. This production is SHARP and CRISP, lots of cool electronic effects that make the composition itself punchy and clear. but i don't care as much about the instruments that are playing beneath the cool sound design as i do with pmd's here. the anime-ness is fun and there's all these cool futuristic sound effects i love, but i'm not sure i care as much about the aesethetic or composition it explores, it doesn't really evoke anything specific to me. I used to like this a bit more than I do now. there's some bits with cool chords/changes like 3:04 and i like the 3+3 rhythms out of nowhere there. also ha ha 3:00 is in 7/4 that's so funny because the song is called 7. I LIKE the fake xylophone layers they remind me of Kazuki Yanagawa. yeah i like those aspects. this song is cool. but with as many cool little bits it has that are to my taste it's still....only a .....7/10.

7

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FCDH (10th/56) vs. Preserved Valkyria (22nd/56), still about right. easy decision for fcdh but i don't hate preserved valkyria
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Dark Man Stage
ChRoNiClESeVeN
Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze
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Night Gale
Infinite Dungeon 2
FCDH

A quite good day, liked everything here.

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MY VOTE WAS SUIPPOSED TO BE:
FCDH

accidentally selected the wrong one. thank you deo for pointing that out
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Dark Man Stage
Infinite Dungeon 2
Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

Night Gale
ChRoNiClESeVeN
Preserved Valkyria

2
,

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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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Dark Man Stage
Infinite Dungeon 2
FCDH

Night Gale's blend of cinematic orchestra, jazz solos, and rock feels more weird to me than some of the "weird" songs in this contest
ChRoNiClESeVeN's key change is so random lol
ToC songs were a lot more similar than I expected, close match

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Dark Man Stage
Infinite Dungeon 2
FCDH

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Gravity Rush 2 - Night Gale
Pokmon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Infinite Dungeon 2
Atelier Shallie - Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

Match 1: I'm not entirely sure what it is, but I consistently like the Smash remixes of Mega Man music less than the originals that are just slapped into the game as-is. This is not the case for any other franchise represented in SSBU! Dark Man is still probably one of the better choices though if we are to go down this route. Night Gale very strongly reminds me of a specific anime soundtrack, but I can't quite remember which one exactly and it's driving me crazy (maybe G Gundam or Cowboy Bebop??). Anyways, normally I'd be all over the Smash song, but this match isn't close at all.

Match 2: PMD music is something I like more and more the more I listen to it (yes I know I nominated something from it myself but still). Very cool instruments as always! C7 is the type of music that throws me off because when I hear these instruments I'm expecting Vocaloid, but then there's a human singing! Actually this match is almost close.

ToC: FCDH has this weird thing that irks me where it constantly changes up its momentum right when its getting good and doesn't really know what it wants to be doing (I think rwlh was talking about this being one of his big pet peeves a while back). Still a good song, but I feel like it could be better. Preserved Valkyria go away, stop killing the side brackets! This match is actually super close though! FCDH has higher highs and lower lows, with PV being more consistent, but also a lot shorter.

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I don't know why Preserved Valkyria was in the VGMC XII side-bracket... I mean, isn't that cheating? >_>

Yay for deo and Mycro ranking Dark Man Stage high! I was wondering if Mycro's improved rating for it was gonna stick, and it did! Also, it's nice to see Mycro rank Infinite Dungeon 2 so high... I was wondering if I was crazy for rating it a 9/10. =p


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Night Gale
Infinite Dungeon 2
FCDH

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Dark Man Stage
ChRoNiClESeVeN
Preserved Valkyria

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Haste_2 posted...

I don't know why Preserved Valkyria was in the VGMC XII side-bracket... I mean, isn't that cheating? >_>

I mean, it wasn't the most dominant retiree we've ever had. It was entirely plausible it could lose at any point.

Instead it beat a future retiree in round 1 and went on to stomp everyone else. But hey, I said you could nominate any song you wanted that wasn't in the main bracket and could be considered VGM.

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Dark Man Stage
Infinite Dungeon 2
FCDH

I'd vote Night Gale over at least 2/3 of round 1. Could have gone either way on the ToC.

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Haste_2 posted...

Yay for deo and Mycro ranking Dark Man Stage high! I was wondering if Mycro's improved rating for it was gonna stick, and it did! Also, it's nice to see Mycro rank Infinite Dungeon 2 so high... I was wondering if I was crazy for rating it a 9/10. =p

it has definitely grown on me! as has the original

Toxtricity posted...

! Gates to Infinity is what i usually say my favorite pmd (and pokemon overall) OST is. ~8th favorite game ost overall, that's a pretty big deal with how much VGM I listen to. Favorite soundtrack with any representative in this contest. I

also i just realized this is false because
1) I "forgot" that pso2 is my 5th favorite soundtrack now
2) I "forgot" that pso2 has entrants in the contest!
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Night Gale
ChRoNiClESeVeN
Preserved Valkyria

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Gravity Rush 2 - Night Gale
7th Dragon III Code: VFD - ChRoNiClESeVeN

Sound Voltex III - Preserved Valkyria
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Dark Man Stage
ChRoNiClESeVeN
Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

Night Gale
Infinite Dungeon 2
Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

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Dark Man Stage
Infinite Dungeon 2
Preserved Valkyria

Dark Man Stage vs Night Gale: WOAH DARK MAN STAGE IS COOOOL. This is a very good Ultimate remix. I can exactly pinpoint what I like about this track but it is very good. Night Gale has some cool instruments like the trumpet and sax but they are also very bland to me. they have their moments but they are few and far between.

Infinite Dungeon 2 vs ChRoNiClESeVeN: Infinite Dungeon sounds very serene. I'm not very familiar with the sound of this series after Sky but hearing this makes me want to go listen to some of the newer stuff. Also the part at 1:15 just hit and its got me going YOOOOOOOOO. ChRoNiClESeVeN is ok. I kinda figured I'd be in for a treat with a name like that but the song really is just ok. No seriously this is the most "ok" song I've heard in the contest so far. Not sure how else to say it tbh, thats just how it be sometimes.

Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze vs Preserved Valkyria: Flying Clouds has the usual Atelier flow while Preserved Valkyria is definitely rhythm game music. Not sure how I feel about this match because I voted against both of these songs but I guess Preserved Valkyria is cooler? Both of these songs I'm pretty indifferent to but Preserved Valkyria doesn't make me roll my eyes like I do when the guitar comes in during Flying Clouds around 1:02 so thats a pretty big plus.

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Yaaay Dark Man is back!!!! I still love this remix a lot lmfao. I'm sure last year I went over the whole story of how I was working the night Ultimate music was coming out and I played this over loudspeaker and starting crying cause this song was so good while I was making peoples sandwiches and yeah that's a thing that happened. The fact that this advertises itself as a remix of song and then not only delivers on that, but also is A MEDLEY OF SUPER UNDERAPPRECIATED SONGS FROM ONE OF MY FAVORITE UNDERAPPRECIATED OSTS like whoooooooa yaaaay!! Beginning with the offkey Proto whistle is just so good and then using Get a Weapon as an intro. Oh my god it's too good. If there's one thing I appreciate Ultimate for the most, it absolutely is the MM5 OST love and I'm not even kidding.

(argh, technical issues) Now that is way too cool, deo! I've thought about blasting music at my work but decided against it.... at least, for now. ;) But yeah, MM5 OST rocks and yeah, the ("darkmanned") Proto Man whistle leading into Get a Weapon is probably my favorite part of this remix...

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Night Gale
Infinite Dungeon 2
Preserved Valkyria

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Dark Man Stage
ChRoNiClESeVeN
FCDH