Board 8 > I rank 300 VGM (2024 edition) [ranking]

(+) Yeah! (+)

rwlh posted...

However, Naganuma alone isnt enough to win the list.

right?

GET ENUF #1 confirmed

38/1124
@Xtlm
Feeble Light - Black Holes
Elezeid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN6H22hFXO4

A very short (under 40 seconds) and very sweet, highly melodic retraux rock track. Like some of the best chip, Black Holes combines beeps and boops to create an engaging and very catchy song. The melody in this is right up there with some of the best from the NES era. The denseness of the retraux chords makes for some delightful crunchiness too.

37/1081
@Snake5555555555
The Medium - The Ruins
Akira Yamaoka, Arkadiusz Reikowski
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BzoyAI3sQo

Among my favorite spooky horror ambience. Theres so much going on here: creepy backwards shit, clanking, underwater chimes, and of course everyones favorite, a pulsating heartbeat. Ive always enjoyed the vgm genre of spooky horror ambience, and its always disheartening when songs like this dont get as much attention as flashier, more melody-driven fare. Theres just so much to sink your teeth into here; every second is so unsettling and makes for an incredibly memorable experience.

36/1065
@DeadTaffer
Bully - Art Class
Shawn Lee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KhKE0lDuW4

Whoa, where did this song come from? Ive listened to the Bully soundtrack - or at least I thought I did, since I dont remember this gem. Very rich, immersive song, sort of psychedelic ambient. Then those drums kick in and were in outer space! What a delightful find. I love the little journey this takes me on, adding new layers periodically until the end, when were left with guitar and drums and the psychedelia is a faint memory. A strangely wistful piece.

35/1033
KecleonFan352
Billie Bust Up! - A Million Gruesome Ways To Die
Daniel Ingram feat. Black Gryph0n
https://youtu.be/uXowk-p0NyA

I really got some unique songs in this ranking. This isnt the only villain song I got (#278, Raphael Final Act comes to mind), but this is infinitely more effective to me for a few reasons. One, I dont need any more context than the song provides, and two, its more engaging to me overall. (No speak-singing, for one thing.) The character Barnaby sings gleefully about murdering the protagonist, but hes not being malicious about it (okay, not entirely); he seems to genuinely think if he kills you, then you can join in the party. And who wouldnt want to be dead? Barnaby doesnt really make any compelling arguments, instead focusing on methods of death, ranging from volcano to Shakespeare to EE-LEEC-TRIII-CIII-TYY. The singer is Black Gryph0n, who goes whole ham and clearly has tons of fun. I have fun too!

ELIMINATION 28/59: Snake5555555555
Average rating: 6.9
Average ranking: 2822
Your lucky song: familiars.io - HOWDY DOCKS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taNWYpXpKaQ

ELIMINATION 27/59: DeadTaffer
Average rating: 7.1
Average ranking: 2921
Your lucky song: AAARGH! - In-Game BGM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W64-WJYxQ1E

Thank you both for nominating!

DeadTaffer is dead.

no writeups today sorry

Deadrwlh is dead.

34/1009
@FL81
Guwange - Underworld Cherry Blossoms
Masahiro Kusunoki
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo4XhwZmGb4

This is a very unique song in terms of tone and presentation. Its very sad, but its also very stately, like a dignified kind of sad, and on top of that its also eerie. Theres a sort of bubbly effect that gives off an otherworldly vibe, which I guess fits the underworld part of the title. Its an unnerving song; the creepy laughter only adds to the experience. Im impressed it evokes so many different emotions at the same time; even though the song isnt weird in a standard sense, its one of the most unique nominations in the batch.

33/988
@loweffortmemes
Sakura no Uta - Tenkyuu no Shita no Kiseki
hana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_QDenecJi4

I have this down in my notes as a true LEM special. This is the realization of the promise made all the way back at #290, Dear My Friend, which I described as the parts of shoegaze I dislike. With this song, all those negative qualities go away. Its the perfect intersection of airy, wistful vocals and j-rock. There are these wonderfully crunchy drums that sparkle through the song. Though I have to askwhats with the part at 2:45 where the song incorporates a layer of noise? lol

32/978
@Prince46
Ghouls 'n Ghosts (Amiga) - Title Theme
Tim Follin
https://youtu.be/aJa4UbIaNRQ

Its not a VGM party without a Follin. Everybody talks about Tim Follins work on the NES, but this jaunty Amiga tune ranks right up there with the best of it. With a kickin guitar reminiscent of the Follin brothers work on Super Off-Road, this Title Theme uses the Amiga soundchip to great effect, utilizing nifty tricks like volume changes and echoes. But the hallmark is the great melody, poppy and otherworldly, reflective of this Capcom classic. Im so glad you gave me this song.

31/960
@Haste_2
Phantasy Star Online 2 BATALLURA
Hidekuni Horita
https://youtu.be/rFpn0NLm5u4?si=52mskppmjbofMAes

Phantasy Star Online music tends to be a mixed bag for me. A lot of it I dont care for, but the songs I like, I really like. So it is with BATALLURA, a jaunty, Celtic-inspired tune that manages to not fall into the trappings of similar songs. The vocals are bubbly and interact with the instrumentation perfectly. The irregular meter is fun to follow along to and try to parse out. And those synth hits (not sure what instrument specifically) are just very delightful, and theres a pan flute (??) that adds so much. Just a solid song all around, one of my favorites Ive found from the series.

ELIMINATION 26/59: loweffortmemes
Average rating: 6.3
Average ranking: 3694
Your lucky song: Far Fetched - Into the Woods!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UVF-zwb8as

ELIMINATION 25/59: Haste_2
Average rating: 7.4
Average ranking: 2562
Your lucky song: Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure - Banson's Aria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6nc77yI3qA

Thank you both for nominating!

rwlh posted...

33/988
@loweffortmemes
Sakura no Uta - Tenkyuu no Shita no Kiseki
hana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_QDenecJi4

I have this down in my notes as a true LEM special. This is the realization of the promise made all the way back at #290, Dear My Friend, which I described as the parts of shoegaze I dislike. With this song, all those negative qualities go away. Its the perfect intersection of airy, wistful vocals and j-rock. There are these wonderfully crunchy drums that sparkle through the song. Though I have to askwhats with the part at 2:45 where the song incorporates a layer of noise? lol

I'm glad that this song ended up being a hit with you! I had a few reasons for choosing this, one of which was actually the little beeps and boops interspersed throughout the song, but a big reason was actually that noise part at 2:45. I didn't know you specifically liked glitchy stuff in songs, though it makes perfect sense in hindsight. I just thought that part was in the vein of generally "weird" stuff that you might like. So when I first saw you talk about how you liked glitchiness around the upper 7.5 mark and seeing how this song was still in at that point, I was pretty happy with my pick. As for why that noise part got thrown into the song, I couldn't tell you haha.

I'm glad you liked the vocals too! I really enjoy Hana's vocal work. I can't really describe why in words. There's just a certain energy or emotion to her voice that I really like.

Five more because I skipped yesterday.

-

30/904
@Tked
Shadows of Cairn - The Thief
Bob Gumbrecht, Brian McCulloch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvqNzkRlRHM

I am spoiler tagging this writeup in case you want to listen to the song without any preconceived notions.

Oh, hello. So I couldnt tell at first but I realized I really liked this around 1:30. There are a lot of all-encompassing soundscapes that are very heavy on feedback, and its super trippy. I wrote that it seems like it would be good music to meditate tobut then the second part kicks in. I said WHAAAAAAT out loud when that happened. Its so effective, but it wouldnt be nearly as strong without all that feedback-drenched leadup. Whats especially fascinating about this is it doesnt feel like buildup in the traditional sense; it simply exists, and then its simply something else, and then it goes back to existing in the first way, and yet its both ways at once.What a fascinating, enthralling song. Thank you for giving it to me.

29/878
@Waveshine_2001
Yoshi's New Island - Title Screen
Masayoshi Ishi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTrj6pp1qpU

Waveshine gave me three joke songs, a song that was kind of a joke, and Forest Interlude. Actually, it was my idea I told her it would be funny if I wound up ranking one of the jokes high. And here we are, with this little kazoo song outperforming 271 other songs, including songs from acclaimed soundtracks like Final Fantasy VII, Super Mario Galaxy, Genshin Impact, Nier, Kingdom Hearts, Undertale, and yes, even Donkey Kong Country 2, the rankings only retired song. Yet here we are.

I dont think I need to justify any of my opinions in this topic this is my ranking, after all. But some of you might be scratching your heads at this one, at how this much maligned kazoo song got such a huge placement. Ill just say that I dont love anything ironically when I love something, I love it with my whole heart. And I really love this song. (Yes, I used the word love even though its an 8.5 and not a 9! Im unpredictable like that.) Ive said before that I love songs at the intersection of wistful and happy, and nothing perhaps encapsulates that dichotomy more in this ranking than Title Screen. The Yoshi series has always stood out for feeling childlike and a little sad, and this song, with its plaintive strumming guitar, does a wonderful job at evoking those emotions in me. People always complain about the kazoo in this song, but its so whimsical that it works remarkably well. And those drums and maracasreally, everything is doing heavy lifting here.

Thats why I love it. Thats why I ranked it higher than 90% of the rest of the list. Ill leave you with this: if it were longer and more developed, it might have snuck into the top ten.

28/846
@Paratroopa1
Caves of Qud - Golgotha
Craig Hamilton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiRRBSsx9nU

Evil sound effects: the song. Golgotha takes my love of factory noises but turns them inward, combining industrial noises like whirring and beeping with more organic sounds like water dripping. Theres no melody to speak of: this is entirely atmosphere, and its pretty bone-chilling stuff. Those occasional deep chords break up the sounds into more quantifiable measures, but the song would work just fine without them for me. One of the darker entrants in the list, very cool.

27/837
@Xtlm
The Disappearing of Gensokyo - Far Oriental Resonance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI4Puwhaegw

You gotta have a Touhou. As far as I can tell this is a Touhou fangame, and its one that mercifully veers away from the dreaded zunpets. The MIDI piano is in full force here; it propels forward a terrific melody. We get trumpet samples (not zunpets!) that also expertly convey a sense of epicness, like this is some final showdown. Everybody loves a good epic final showdown song; this song makes me feel very good when I listen to it.

26/799
@-hotdogturtle--
Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion - Splattack! (Octo)
Ryo Nagamatsu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd0EOI1vXU0

I love all the stopping and starting in this. Normally that can be a tough sell for me, but thats mostly in cases where the whole song stops and then picks up as something totally different. Brief stutters like in this song are really cool, particularly when they create a glitchy effect. I also really like the guitar chords and the bass and drumwork. Really I like everything about this! I considered making it a 9 but theres some dead space throughout where I wanted something more happening. But its still really solid.

Every one of these songs was an elimination, wow!!!!

ELIMINATION 24/59: Tked
Average rating: 7.1
Average ranking: 3022
Your lucky song: Akumajou Densetsu - Demon Seed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-P4SjqtRkg

ELIMINATION 23/59: Waveshine_2001
Average rating: 5.8
Average ranking: 3618
Your lucky song: Captain Tsubasa 2 - Kojiro Hyuga's Theme (Toho Team)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wORTwHqcP3U

ELIMINATION 22/59: Paratroopa1
Average rating: 7.3
Average ranking: 2711
Your lucky song: Dariusburst - Hello 31337
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw6vVgwcUWE

ELIMINATION 21/59: Xtlm
Average rating: 6.6 (a pretty impressive average given that you literally had last place)
Average ranking: 2739
Your lucky song: Crash Twinsanity - Worm Chase
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jjf92tENoI

ELIMINATION 20/59: -hotdogturtle--
Average rating: 7.5
Average ranking: 2380
Your lucky song: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Twilit Battle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=646K_a_j9Pc

Thank you all for nominating!

rwlh posted...

But when I do listen to it, its so evocative

Wanted to wait to post an update in my topic before commenting on this, heh.

On your list of "things that you like" one of them was "emptiness". And to me the obvious song with that quality is Blue Orb. But I got thinking that maybe it was too obvious. I didn't want to feel like I was just filling out a checklist slotting all of my favorite songs into your list, so I decided to gamble on a different song. Nobody ever talks about Beautiful Star in the context of Katamari music anyway so I wanted to see what someone would say. I've noticed that a lot of your top songs seems to have a "harsher" sound but you have occasional soft ones mixed in, so I was hoping that this soft song would get a specific reaction from you, and your writeup is exactly what I was aiming for.

rwlh posted...

Brief stutters like in this song are really cool, particularly when they create a glitchy effect.

Splattack Octo was my pick for "unusual percussion" or however you worded it in your nom topic. I thought about submitting an entire set of "glitch" styled songs like this, but I realized that I wouldn't be able to do that without double dipping into Splatoon or Hypnospace so I didn't do it.

rwlh posted...

Your lucky song: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Twilit Battle

This song really made me laugh because this is definitely a rwlh topic.

rwlh posted...

Five more because I skipped yesterday.

You spoil us. (Happy Easter)

New topic, everybody move there!
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80736682

rwlh posted...

@Waveshine_2001
Donkey Kong Country 2 - Forest Interlude
David Wise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5EgRk0mQM8

Our only retiree nomination is the first 8.5 out. An SNES classic, Forest Interlude has a stellar melody, excellent bass and drumming, and those blissful environmental effects. Its funny featuring this right after Beautiful Star, because I feel like those two songs are cut from similar cloth, but I very clearly favor Forest Interlude. Its not quite at the level of Stickerbush Symphony or Donkey Kong Rescued, quite possibly my favorite DKC2 track, but its still really, really damn satisfying to listen to. This is Donkey Kong Country at its mellowest and simultaneously most engaging.

Forest Interlude is also my second favorite behind Stickerbush Symphony. Thank you for mentioning "the thing" without making it too obvious.

rwlh posted...

@Waveshine_2001
Yoshi's New Island - Title Screen
Masayoshi Ishi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTrj6pp1qpU

Waveshine gave me three joke songs, a song that was kind of a joke, and Forest Interlude. Actually, it was my idea I told her it would be funny if I wound up ranking one of the jokes high. And here we are, with this little kazoo song outperforming 271 other songs, including songs from acclaimed soundtracks like Final Fantasy VII, Super Mario Galaxy, Genshin Impact, Nier, Kingdom Hearts, Undertale, and yes, even Donkey Kong Country 2, the rankings only retired song. Yet here we are.

I dont think I need to justify any of my opinions in this topic this is my ranking, after all. But some of you might be scratching your heads at this one, at how this much maligned kazoo song got such a huge placement. Ill just say that I dont love anything ironically when I love something, I love it with my whole heart. And I really love this song. (Yes, I used the word love even though its an 8.5 and not a 9! Im unpredictable like that.) Ive said before that I love songs at the intersection of wistful and happy, and nothing perhaps encapsulates that dichotomy more in this ranking than Title Screen. The Yoshi series has always stood out for feeling childlike and a little sad, and this song, with its plaintive strumming guitar, does a wonderful job at evoking those emotions in me. People always complain about the kazoo in this song, but its so whimsical that it works remarkably well. And those drums and maracasreally, everything is doing heavy lifting here.

Thats why I love it. Thats why I ranked it higher than 90% of the rest of the list. Ill leave you with this: if it were longer and more developed, it might have snuck into the top ten.

Because you didn't wait one more day to post this until April Fools, I will post my response on April Fools. That's pretty cool that you unironically like this song, though I can't help but find it funny that my joke nom is the one that made it the farthest.

rwlh posted...

Every one of these songs was an elimination, wow!!!!

ELIMINATION 24/59: Tked
Average rating: 7.1
Average ranking: 3022
Your lucky song: Akumajou Densetsu - Demon Seed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-P4SjqtRkg

ELIMINATION 23/59: Waveshine_2001
Average rating: 5.8
Average ranking: 3618
Your lucky song: Captain Tsubasa 2 - Kojiro Hyuga's Theme (Toho Team)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wORTwHqcP3U

ELIMINATION 22/59: Paratroopa1
Average rating: 7.3
Average ranking: 2711
Your lucky song: Dariusburst - Hello 31337
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw6vVgwcUWE

ELIMINATION 21/59: Xtlm
Average rating: 6.6 (a pretty impressive average given that you literally had last place)
Average ranking: 2739
Your lucky song: Crash Twinsanity - Worm Chase
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jjf92tENoI

ELIMINATION 20/59: -hotdogturtle--
Average rating: 7.5
Average ranking: 2380
Your lucky song: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Twilit Battle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=646K_a_j9Pc

Thank you all for nominating!

I like how I have a significantly lower average than everyone else because of joke noms....but then one of my joke noms also beat the majority of the other songs and raised the average by a lot. Funny how that works.

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