Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 54! feat. the Bleakest of Sands and the Strangest of Circles

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to Video Game Music Contest 19, 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=479594
Contest info sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HqEzmlfEUsm6BWJbBxDm6ZUnQQ_2d1ezDlVBN2sYepY
Contest discussion thread: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80981071
Main bracket playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT3m7iohpL0zm7Svx4DXDy1XjUejSBazd
Last years spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HBxgL9woiCMFKNOPuN_qdxmzjStJXSpC3Ocalfsavdk
VGMC total stats sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K1XdLWiUKB2kX99qYBgnRbLU_sCz4dvZSByKKJHCT6o
VGMC info site (thank you p0!!): https://p0p0p0p.github.io/
Discord: https://discord.gg/7FVXqWj

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 to vote in a given day, please send an absentee vote to @banshiryuu, or post your absentee vote in the discussion thread!

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Tiebreaker Match

beatmania IIDX 21 SPADA - Adularia (Long Mix)
Composer: Yoshihiro Tagawa (DJ TOTTO)
Loop Point: 4:07
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uDgq5ZfKgE

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder (Sega CD) - Dwarven Ruins
Composer: Motohiro Kawashima
Loop Point: 3:05
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYQt15h5kGo

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Match 1

SOUND VOLTEX III GRAVITY WARS - Liminality
Composer: ZUN arr. Maurits "ZEN" Cornelis
Loop Point: 7:53
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uCAljvjSTo

Kirby Air Ride - Air Ride - Sky Sands
Composer: Shogo Sakai
Loop Point: 1:12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TL6CqvvEAM

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Match 2

The Smurfs' Nightmare - Mysterious Planet (Another World)
Composer: Alberto Gonzalez
Loop Point: 2:20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ENuj0c1oqo

Cocoon - Spheres
Composer: Jakob Schmid
Loop Point: 4:02
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFMGYNuRSRg

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Easy vote form:
Adularia (Long Mix) / Dwarven Ruins
Liminality / Air Ride - Sky Sands
Mysterious Planet (Another World) / Spheres

beatmania IIDX 21 SPADA - Adularia (Long Mix)
SOUND VOLTEX III GRAVITY WARS - Liminality
The Smurfs' Nightmare - Mysterious Planet (Another World)

abstain
liminality
mysterious planet

Adularia (Long Mix)
Liminality
Spheres

Adularia (Long Mix)
Sky Sands
Mysterious Planet

i decided to flip sorry dwarfheads

Dwarven Ruins
Liminality
Spheres

Dwarven Ruins
Liminality
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Yeah, just gonna vote immediately because the two matches are comically easy choices. Sticking with Dwarven Ruins because I still like how freaky it sounds.

Dwarven Ruins (AD&D: Eye of the Beholder (SCD))
Liminality (SOUND VOLTEX III GRAVITY WARS)
Spheres (Cocoon)

Adularia (Long Mix)
Liminality
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Adularia (Long Mix)
Sky Sands
Spheres

Adularia (Long Mix)
Liminality
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Adularia (Long Mix)
Air Ride - Sky Sands
Spheres

Dwarven Ruins
Liminality
Spheres

Dwarven Ruins
Air Ride - Sky Sands
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Adularia (Long Mix)
Liminality
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

changing my vote on the tiebreaker (they're both good)

Dwarven Ruins
Air Ride - Sky Sands
Spheres

Adularia (Long Mix)
Liminality
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Adularia
Sands
World

Dwarven Ruins
Liminality
Spheres

Adularia (Long Mix)
Air Ride - Sky Sands
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Adularia (Long Mix)
Liminality
Spheres

Liminality > Adularia (Long Mix) > Spheres > Dwarven Ruins > Air Ride - Sky Sands >> Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Very good day.

Dwarven
Liminality
Mysterious

Dwarven Ruins
Air Ride - Sky Sands
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

I vastly prefer both match 3 songs to both match 2 songs this is fucked up

Adularia (Long Mix)
Liminality
Spheres

Dwarven Ruins
Liminality
Spheres

For today's poll, I'd have to pick either Dr. Bad Boon's base or Route 228! HM to CT final battle.

First match is close, but 0:47 in Dwarven Ruins is what ultimately decides it (so quirky dark).

Adularia
Liminality
Spheres

Adularia > Spheres >= Liminality > Air Ride - Sky Sands > Mysterious Planet (Another World) > Dwarven Ruins

Adularia - 8.5
yeah this song is still really cool

Dwarven Ruins - 7
yeah this song still exists

Liminality - 8
cool song I like

Air Ride - Sky Sands - 7.5
sounds good but doesn't do much with the little time it has

Mysterious Planet (Another World) - 7.5
yeah idk it's a solid GB song I don't get the seeming overwhelming love

Spheres - 8
huh this song has a really cool vibe I quite like it

Adularia (Long Mix)
Air Ride - Sky Sands
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

From kamakazikila:

Adularia, liminality, another planet

Dwarven Ruins
Liminality
Spheres

Adularia (Long Mix)
Liminality
Spheres

Adularia (Long Mix)
Liminality
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Adularia (Long Mix)
Liminality
Spheres

Dwarven Ruins
Air Ride - Sky Sands
Spheres

Dwarven Ruins
Liminality
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Adularia (Long Mix)
Air Ride - Sky Sands
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

SOUND VOLTEX III GRAVITY WARS - Liminality receives rank 23 of 57. Everything about this song is smoooth. Surprised it ran for eight minutes. Became more mood music than vibe music by the end. 7.2/10

Kirby Air Ride - Air Ride - Sky Sands receives rank 20 of 58. This is what you get when you hire the Ys sound team to write a track for a Kirby game. I dunno about Sky Sands -- this sounds like the exploration of some ancient desert ruins. 7.5/10

The Smurfs' Nightmare - Mysterious Planet (Another World) receives rank 9 of 59. I knew from the first notes that this had to be Gonzalez. I am amazed at the number of bangers he was able to turn out using the Gameboy chip. There are songs that only Gameboy aficionados are going to like, and then there are songs that have wider appeal, and I have to imagine Mysterious Planet has that broader appeal. 8.1/10

Cocoon - Spheres receives rank 44 of 60. Soundscape songs tend to be hit or miss for me, more often miss. Spheres is..."neat." There's a certain aspect of fascination to it, while it plays in probably some kind of industrial quarter of a steampunk post-apocalyptic city. But it's not something I'd say "hey, let's put on Spheres!" 5.9/10

Adularia
Liminality
Mysterious Planet

Dwarven Ruins
Air Ride - Sky Sands
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

So, last round I said that I like Dwarven Ruins because it depicts an overwhelmingly hostile environment, an emotional extreme. Thats still true, but I believe I can synthesize that particular appeal with another one that I mentioned about EX-Rooftop, and last year about The Edge of the World, which is that this extreme is created in a way that feels, paradoxically, conventional. That after getting past the initial shock of how the instruments sound, the otherness of it melts away and leaves behind a feeling of familiarity. Comfort, even. Which I attribute to the fact that it is so uncompromisingly regimented in its structure, how it emphasizes so pointedly the beats in the melody. That idea is what I keep coming back to: unconventional sound, conventional melody. And the very process of realizing that there is something conventional there is itself a source of comfort.

Tier 1: Don't Preheat Your Oven Because If You Do The Song Won't Play, Haunted Ship (Act 2), Route 228 (Night), Super Smash Bros. Brawl Main Theme

Tier 2: The Palace That Was Found, Last Battle, World 10: Dr. Bad Boon's Base, Kakariko Village

Every Donkey Kong Country song is a pretty based answer. And that Spongebob answer makes me imagine an alternate version of the Spongebob theme song that mentions every character instead of just repeating Spongebob Squarepants.

Dwarven Ruins
Air Ride - Sky Sands
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Dwarven Ruins
Liminality
Spheres

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder (Sega CD) - Dwarven Ruins
Kirby Air Ride - Air Ride - Sky Sands
The Smurfs' Nightmare - Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Dwarven Ruins
Liminality
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Adularia (Long Mix)
Air Ride - Sky Sands
Spheres

Match 1 is between two supports of mine, which means it must be the strongest match today. It hurts, but whichever wins I'll be overjoyed to see it take all of B4.

I completely forgot what Spheres sounded like, so that 'menacing' synth right at the start threw me off for a second. And then I remember why I gave it the rating I did. Still, I won't be mad if AJG takes the win here, it's a closer match than I was expecting.

Dwarven Ruins
Air Ride - Sky Sands
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Dwarven Ruins
Liminality
Spheres

first match is pretty evil , and all the songs today are rather good woauh..i like liminality

beatmania IIDX 21 SPADA - Adularia (Long Mix)
SOUND VOLTEX III GRAVITY WARS - Liminality
The Smurfs' Nightmare - Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Adularia (Long Mix)
Liminality
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Adularia (Long Mix)
Liminality
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Adularia (Long Mix)
Air Ride - Sky Sands
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

Re: the poll
SSBB main theme is so peak
Its weird how despite it being such a mainstream popular favorite, I rarely see it talked about and praised in actual dedicated vgm circles. Thats too bad, but at least I can rest easy knowing it reached mainstream popularity in the first place.

Adularia (Long Mix)
Liminality
Mysterious Planet (Another World)

beatmania IIDX 21 SPADA - Adularia (Long Mix)
SOUND VOLTEX III GRAVITY WARS - Liminality
Cocoon - Spheres

beatmania IIDX 21 SPADA - Adularia (Long Mix)
SOUND VOLTEX III GRAVITY WARS - Liminality
The Smurfs' Nightmare - Mysterious Planet (Another World)