Music Tournament of DOOM- 2017 Edition

[Ranmilia]

Yeah Tonfa said what I was trying to say more politely at the start of the thread (and also as a response to that day in chat, which, if we're going there, was only a couple of people saying they disliked obscura, not "quite a few."  I do not agree that view is shared by anywhere near a majority.)  I lost interest in the past contests (and the main DL itself) because it trended towards too groupthinky and not enough willingness to vote on or discover things.

Giving context isn't hard, people should do it.  Evaluating songs by themselves and voting on stuff you haven't personally heard in game isn't too hard either though.  "Don't nom things outside of the tiny list of games most people have played ;_;  or if you do don't expect them to win" is a really lame way to be.  Please don't do that.

#freeobscura
#expandyourtastes
#livealittle

Speaking of.  That makes me feel like posting more good obscura.

--- The Bone Zone ---

16. Sengoku Rance - Mars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yff0LH-iGE0
This is a turn based factional SRPG - think somewhere between Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, and Dominions - set in Sengoku era Japan, except all the famous historical generals are genderswapped, and Rance, the protagonist, ah...  shall we say... gets down with them after winning.  18+ players only please.  That side of the content is fairly infamous for... reasons, but who cares, this track has nothing to do with that.  This is the track for fighting the Takeda clan, generally strong lategame foes who cause a lot of resets to the unprepared.  I have been reinforced that this is Kenshin Uesugi's theme!  I haven't even played this, it's another proxy nom, but see how easy it is to find basic context with even the smallest bit of effort?

17. Kurovadis - Factory - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMXe3kVgmn8
Another proxy nom, though this time I actually have played the game in question myself.  It's a sci-fi metroidvania, you walljump around and shoot stuff and find powerups to explore more.  Also 18+ due to art and animations.  Pretty good game though, graphics, gameplay and music all have strong production values.  This is, shockingly, the music for the factory area.  Crushers, switch puzzles, conveyor belts, you know how it goes.

--- VN Power Hour ---

18. Steins;Gate - Gate of Steiner - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVQj-yv91m4
Really good game (and anime) kind of like a reverse Terminator series with less action and more science.  A few decades in the future, a time machine that can send weak electronic signals (short emails or text messages) into the past is invented.  A covert time war ensues between the totalitarian dystopia of the future and the resistance leaders, who, in the present, are a motley group of deadbeat college students.  This is the "main theme" that plays rarely, when some particularly big event or emotional revelation happens.  Great track, highly remixable.

19. Air - Tori no Uta - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtJnix-9niI
One of Key's breakout successes, mainly because of this smash hit opening song.  Another case where the song sets the mood and context for the game, rather than the reverse.  The game itself is a hot mess ("and now, we replay all 20 hours of part 1, except this time the protagonist has magically become a crow instead of a human") but the aesthetics do a good job of selling the whole "summer, pretty birds, flying, wishes and stuff" mood.

20. Umineko - Dreamenddischarger - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDPJuAxZaOo
Umineko is... uh... a thing.  VERY loosely put, it's a meta-mystery about a rich family's reunion at their island estate, which turns into a murder mystery thriller.  The series uses multiple perspectives and alternate retellings to present both mundane detective fiction explanations and wild magical fantasy possibilities, and challenge the reader to figure out what really happened and whether witches and magic exist.  I don't actually like Umineko's writing at all, but it has pretty dang good music.  This track is from the climax of part 4, a faceoff between Battler (main man and advocate of mundane solutions) and Beatrice (the legendary witch who attempts to force Battler to admit magic exists.)

--- Respect Your Roots ---

21. Marathon - Leela - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YdSbP6Z2Us
Didja know Marathon 1 had a soundtrack that was only included with certain releases of the game?  This is the theme for Leela, the "nice" one of the trio of AIs on the ship...  things don't go too well for her.  Well, it's supposed to be her theme, judging from the title, but like all the tracks it plays for some random selection of levels.  BUT... the theme might sound very familiar to some people, despite its obscure origin, because Bungie ended up reusing and rearranging it for several songs in the Halo series.  Now it's their de facto "friendly AI" musical motif.

22. Rise of the Triad (1994) - Goin' Down the Fast Way - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX_Kb0cDN98
Song speaks for itself.  Often imitated, never duplicated.

23. Elf - Forest World - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxBDZfTi7Gk
From downtown, where "downtown" is "the Amiga" we have Elf, very underrated exploration platformer with great tunes.  The forest is the first level.

--- Blatant Abuse of Music Games ---

24. Guitar Hero 3 (& Dragonforce) - Through the Fire and the Flames - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4dXQ7CQTxU
So you think you're good at Guitar Hero, and then they hit you with the full seven and a half minutes of this for the end credits.  And who doesn't want to do it?  It's Dragonforce!

--- This is Your Brain on Puzzle Platformers ---

25. Fez - Continuum - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDr2_VyYUdk
Fez is a cute little game where you solve puzzles by rotating perspectives around the cube of the environment.  And by ultra deep dive cryptography bullshit, for the deep secrets where the cube turns out to be a hypercube and things get weird.  This is from the more mind twisting parts.

26. Braid - Long Past Gone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFMjWPRlPVw
If you don't know what Braid is, here's a better review than anything I could give: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSXofLK5hFQ
This is from a ways into the game, where a darker tone begins to creep into the lush fantasy setting.  Really this isn't obscura but I don't feel like going back and switching categories, this is taking too much time to do already.

[VySaika]

I'm just trying to get some more modernish stuff in my noms, which includes some obscura(hi Lost Dimension) or genres that aren't widely played here(hi WO3). Really it's hard for me to think of stuff that I've played that isn't kinda obscure past the PS2 era here. We all mostly played a bunch of the same stuff from that era and before, but the PS3/4 eras are full of divergent tastes. I'm being a dirty fence sitter here since I'm not super excited about a bunch of noms from Dark Souls/Nier/etc games I haven't played, but I'm also not going to object to them just because I haven't played the games.

Elf: If you want songs you know and recognize, nom them. Encourage the others who share your opinions about less obscura and more stuff you know to do the same!

Alex: Maybe cut your list down to the 15 you care about most as your Official Noms and then have the rest of it below that as "here guys listen to this cool music" links? I'm not offended by obscura(nobody nomming Lost fucking Dimension music gets to be) but the sheer avalanche of it there is making me blanch.

What I'm getting at here with the two above notes is that if everyone who's participating has the same number of actual noms, then the content will actually reflect what the majority cares about. Elf wants no obscura? Fine, he has 15 noms to stack towards the games he prefers, and so does anyone who agrees with him. Alex and Tonfa want all obscura for the sake of sharing stuff? Fine, they have their 15 noms to stack towards the stuff they want to share and so does anyone who agrees with them.

EDIT: howver, I do agree with teh opposition to this statement: "Since I am doing it by hand though, I'll likely be selecting against obscura as best I can". Everyone should have the same number of noms and same weight of getting thier stuff in without bias for or against anyone's preferances.

[Sierra]

I'm not bothered by there being a lot of stuff I don't know (that's part of the attraction). In fact, I expect there to be a lot of stuff I don't know from personal experience, because my playtime has been too restricted to FFXIV/Fromsoft games the last couple years.

"Everyone noms the stuff they like" -> probably likely to lead to the most balanced pool. Because it's not like there is a central DL canon anymore anyway? I think we kind of all found our own specializations after the PS2 era when JRPGs were mostly no longer a thing.

That said, the above is more true if everyone's nomming the same number of tracks. Not that I actually want Alex to stop suggesting crazy things.

[Hunter Sopko]

I honestly think that if we're going to keep the DL Tournament alive, we really need to be thinking about expansion and not booting. For the entirety of the tournament, the more stuff that was ranked, the more it motivated me to seek out the random and obscure games on the roster and play them. It was a big part of what made things...

Wait. What are we talking about? Oh, right. Obscura vs Mainstream in MUSIC tournaments...

People have their own criteria for voting that's way more subjective here than the DL ever was. If people want to vote on in-game use and context, that's fine. Some people just vote on the quality of the song regardless too. It might hurt a song's chances of advancing, but it shouldn't really make a difference between it getting in or not.

I wouldn't judge CK too harshly overall? He may be setting a line, but I really don't think he's going to enforce it overly harsh? I mean, if Atelier Ayesha is his line, then 90% of what people have nommed should be fine (and I think Alex knows his 50 noms or so aren't all getting in... unless we set up a solely Alex bracket as a play-in... CAN WE CAN WE CAN WE???)

[Cmdr_King]

I'd like to draw everyone's attention to the sentence immediately before the one Tonfa posted:

I'll most likely be building the bracket to include as many noms as possible, so it's entirely possible I'll have to either cut or extend noms to get even numbers, although... y'know, who knows.

Two points here:

1) I want to include as many noms as possible.  Y'know, not cut things.
2) I haven't decided how big the tourney is.  If I get 250 unique noms, well by golly it is pretty easy to conjure up 6 more, rather than cut 122 to get back to the nearest factor of two.

At a quick glance, everyone is already pretty much checking everyone else's noms and making almost all noms unique, which with the number of responses so far puts us at something north of 200 noms... and that's assuming I just took Alex's first 15 noms and called it good.

"selecting against obscura" is there for two reasons.
a) If we end just a few noms north of a round number, then sure, I'll probably cut the game that doesn't have an entry on Wikipedia or TV Tropes instead of saying "oops, Gate was the last person to nom, he doesn't get any"
But moreso:
b) to help put everyone on the same page.  That is, if everyone kinda goes "well... I love this game, but no one else has played it, maybe I shouldn't do 10 noms from it",  I think the whole process will be a bit more enjoyable for everyone.  And I mean, the point of anything like this is to generate discussion and funtimes and comparative analysis in form of competition is just a common touchstone for the DL's brainspace, so that's a format to use.

So yeah.  There's like 5 noms total I've looked at sideeye so far, and they aren't exactly one person's noms.  And I'd still take them before delving into everyone's extra noms.  It's fiiiinnneeee, everything's fiiiinnneeee.

[Ranmilia]

Yeah basically.  Like I said all the way back, I just want good songs in and people not feeling sad because such and so great track got left out because they didn't have slots.  I don't care whose noms they are, it'd make me happiest if everyone ignored the 15 limit and put forward everything they love enough and think deserves to be in. 

I did limit my list to at most 2 per game (except Automata, which is a special case because people are still waiting to play it but have expressed that the music is probably worthy of more than 2 total noms) and am definitely not expecting everything (or even most of it) to get in.  But I am also not interested in cutting down to a "top 15" before we're finalizing the bracket and CK comes to whap me on the head.  I already did my self selection, this IS the cut list.  Someone else wants it down to 15, well, what Soppy said, how about you all listen to them and tell me which you think are the best as a prelim?  That is the whole idea here, after all!

I'm done though, ain't got no more songs.  Probably.  >_>  Maybe a couple if I think of them.

[SnowFire]

As a quick side note, I edited in some more extensive context notes for my noms above.

I am also totally down for a special before-tourney play-in to help Alex whittle his nom list down to size.  See which 15 songs in the Alex bracket survive to the main tourney & all.

[Niu]

because my playtime has been too restricted to FFXIV/Fromsoft games the last couple years.

Please nom something from Armor Core 4 or 4 Answer, pleeeeeaseeeee.

10: Drakengard 3:The Upcoming Battle / Armaros

That's how they translate the Intoner songs?
Guess they are translating without understanding again.

I've actually seen a bunch of different names for the Titles so I have no idea which is the actually correct one that's just what came up for the song I wanted.

I took a look around. I can safely tell you this: none of them are correct.

The intoner song names are actually a word play that has no literal meaning. It is just merely mashing the first word from the last line of the Intoner's summoning incantation together, and that's it.

Take Four for example. The last lines of her summonings are theses:
"防御ろ　アルマロス" 防御ろ is incorrectly written on purpose as the kanji of defend (防御). When it should really be written as 閉じろ, which means to close.
"おいで　ゾフィエル" おいで means come, and the kanji that has the same meaning is 来
And Four's song title is just putting the kanji next too each other and becomes 防来
Naturally, this combination of words has no meaning as it is just two kanji next to each other out of the context.

The only Intoner song name that exempted from this rule is One's 友歌
There are no words in any of One's incantation can be replaced by the kanji 友, which means friend.
But that is because One can omit the summoning incantation of Gabriella because they are friends.

[Hunter Sopko]

because my playtime has been too restricted to FFXIV/Fromsoft games the last couple years.

Please nom something from Armor Core 4 or 4 Answer, pleeeeeaseeeee.

It's so weird. PS2 era Armored Core OSTs wouldn't be out of place in a Wipeout game. PS3 era ones are much more like a bridge between the electronica of that and orchestral of DS.

[Tonfa]

I'd like to draw everyone's attention to the sentence immediately before the one Tonfa posted:

I'll most likely be building the bracket to include as many noms as possible, so it's entirely possible I'll have to either cut or extend noms to get even numbers, although... y'know, who knows.

Two points here:

1) I want to include as many noms as possible.  Y'know, not cut things.
2) I haven't decided how big the tourney is.  If I get 250 unique noms, well by golly it is pretty easy to conjure up 6 more, rather than cut 122 to get back to the nearest factor of two.

At a quick glance, everyone is already pretty much checking everyone else's noms and making almost all noms unique, which with the number of responses so far puts us at something north of 200 noms... and that's assuming I just took Alex's first 15 noms and called it good.

"selecting against obscura" is there for two reasons.
a) If we end just a few noms north of a round number, then sure, I'll probably cut the game that doesn't have an entry on Wikipedia or TV Tropes instead of saying "oops, Gate was the last person to nom, he doesn't get any"
But moreso:
b) to help put everyone on the same page.  That is, if everyone kinda goes "well... I love this game, but no one else has played it, maybe I shouldn't do 10 noms from it",  I think the whole process will be a bit more enjoyable for everyone.  And I mean, the point of anything like this is to generate discussion and funtimes and comparative analysis in form of competition is just a common touchstone for the DL's brainspace, so that's a format to use.

So yeah.  There's like 5 noms total I've looked at sideeye so far, and they aren't exactly one person's noms.  And I'd still take them before delving into everyone's extra noms.  It's fiiiinnneeee, everything's fiiiinnneeee.

Okay so, as for point a), why not just give an equal amount of noms to everyone, in the order they were listed? That is fair and how it has been done before.

As far as b) goes, familiarity through a field of pre-known candidates or such making the process "more enjoyable to everyone", well. You saw the discussion in this thread, yes? "Everyone" is a very large misnomer and people in fact find value, interest, fun, points for discussion and conversation in a number of different things here. For some it's reminiscing, for some it's sharing, for some it's discovery. Some draw connections with the song and the moment in the game, others treat it as a standalone or let their own imagination conjure a context for it. To have one of such promoted as the word of god golden standard is offputting and on a personal level doesn't make me want to invest time into researching and finding nominations if there's a distinct possibility I get, say, ~70% of mine in while someone else bats a 100%.

The voting itself is a process that tends toward groupthink and if it turns out the majority is more comfortable with things they have previously heard the "obscura" will fall to the wayside soon enough. If they enjoy a song they haven't heard before it will advance. And so forth. Before committing to this I need to be certain that everyone is on the same playing field to begin with.

[Cmdr_King]

If you're asking for written guarantees of legislated technical fairness, then I'm afraid I can't offer you that.  There isn't a program I dump noms into and brackets come out, and this isn't something I have a written procedure for.  The process is laborious and impromptu, and the best I can offer is being straightforward with my goals and biases.  And as I've said, a lot of what I ultimately do will come down to what the noms look like in the end.  Which I don't know yet.

I know I'm not offering much comfort if you're worried about it here, just... I do this shit on the fly, and to a certain extent that fact is the only reason I CAN get anything out the door.

[Ranmilia]

Lotta stuff got hashed in chat after seeing the above post.  Posting to say I'll be happy to take over the technical side if that's a concern.  (Challonge.com is a cool website.  You can dump noms in and brackets come out!)

[DragonKnight Zero]

Will toss in a few noms that I like.  May not be my personal top 15; I picked out tunes I like that aren't mainstream for the most part.  I plan to include links for some of my picks since most are far off the beaten path.

"Love Colored Master Spark"  Touhou 8: Imperishable Night  (plays during Marisa boss fight)
- The only "automatic" pick of mine because my absolute favorite ficticious character ever.

'Don't Wait Until Night"  Haunted Castle  (final stage theme)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHgAYzVo-Ag
- I have this weird fascination with tunes that very few people will hear in game (I have only heard it in Youtube videos myself)  It's the regular stage theme but the game is also brutal and doesn't allow credit feeding, an anomoly for an arcade game.

"Legendary Beast"  Final Fantasy 8
- See above on few hearing it ingame.  I suspect everyone here kills off Griever quick with Limits and only hear the first 30 seconds of this since the next form uses a different track.

Dr Wily  Patchy's Castle stage 1&2  Megamari  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhz8aMI1SZY
- Popped into my head after seeing Wily stage 1 from Megaman 2 in the noms above.  Decided to throw it in as a joke due to Megamari borrowing heavily from Megaman 2's design such as a lack of slide and losing E-tanks on gameover.  Even has the wiggling eyebrows.  The music holds up well enough as its own thing in a "Mega Man meets bullet hell" game.

Protoman whistle: Mega Man 3  (full version that plays in ending)
  It cuts off before the whole thing is played normally.  By holding up +A on controller 2 for long enough when the whistle starts though, the song will keep going while Mega Man is frozen in Dr. Light's lab and the whole tune can be heard in-game (unless you're playing something other than the original NES version since I think all the ports disabled the controller 2 tricks).

"Lame"  Darius Force/Super Nova (plays in Zone L and M)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXJ48JJW6zU&list=PL09D241B4CA5D4883&index=10
  Title is a misnomer.  Unless it's talking about the tempo, it's a slow paced piece.  A personal favorite.  haven't touched the game in years but still find it memorable.  Oh yeah, zones L and M are both endgame.  The game also strips all weapon upgrades upon death and throws the player back to a checkpoint making it hard to recover.  It takes lots of persistence to reach either stage and even more skill to live long enough for it to loop.

i've also heard Taito is really aggressive about taking down uploads of their music on Youtube so there's an above average chance the tune could become unfindable.  I guess this nom will become a casualty, worst case.

Act 12: Kidou Senshi Gundam F-91  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrYMbbz79dQ
  I don't know anything about the game of origin.  Heard it elsewhere and sounded awesome.

"City of Flickering Destruction"  Legend 0f Mana  (Jumi city theme)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HRzKkD20YM
  A sad sounding theme for a race with a story full of misfortune.

"Pride and Honor"  Front Mission 4  Plays on Mission 28; defend the EC Assembly
 Felt catchy for me in a mostly decent but forgettable soundtrack.  (credit to super for title)

"Go, go, go"  Lunar SSSC  (final battle theme)
  I may be wrong on the title since I didn't look up the sound test before typing this.  For a fight likely to last a half hour, a theme that doesn't get on the nerves is most welcome and this delivers.

'Departure for Space"  Gradius 3 arcade  (most outer space pre-stage sections)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezISQchcvlo
  The very first tune upon gameplay starting after picking weapon loadout: I find it likeable.  Conveys a sense of wonder before dying in stage 2 and the game grinding most players to a pulp.

stage 1 theme;  Super Earth Defense Force (SNES version)
  Ear worm.  The game is rather average.

"Dark Groove"  Jazz Jackrabbit 2
  Heard it elsewhere and liked it enough to care about its origins.  I have no in-game context.

'Menu"  Crusader No Remorse/Crusader No Regret  (plays on main menu, derp)
  It's one of those pieces that gives me a happy tingly feeling and hasn't already been nommed.  I think it's listed as "menu.mod" on modarchive.org, at least that's where I'm looking to redownload this after replacing my old PC.

Title Theme, Megamari (also used in final battle)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnx1J2KuPlM
  I'm reluctant to do two noms from the same game but well...  This one might be more enjoyable without context.  A high energy piece for an action game, I find it catchy whenever i cross it.  The link includes the prologue ditty that plays when the game starts up.

Extra Stage: the tunes not part of my 15 (even if I don't make it to 15)

'Crystal Labyrinth"  Gradius 3 arcade  (crystal stage)
  I have strange tastes, taking a liking to the song from the stage with one of the most notorious segments in any shmup, ever.  This was my phone ringtone for a while.

boss battle - Castlevania Chronicles
  Strangely catchy.  Don't like it as much so into the reserves it goes.  Likely to be cut if I trim my list.  There's four versions of this on the disc but I don't think they're different enough to care.

stage 1 - Dragon Spirit (arcade)
  Again with the shmup tunes.  Picking the arcade version because of better sound quality than the NES port.

Captain America stage - Marvel Super Heroes (arcade)
  Capcom does licensed games right.  This shows up several times in their games but I like this rendition the best.  Also happens to be the first appearance of the theme and of Cap in a fighting game.

Title theme - Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zp13bc--v8
  Another "I bet no one's heard this before" pick or if you have, it's because it's the title music for the Rockman No Constancy romhack.  Had I thought of it earlier, I might have put it in the main 15 but that's how the cards fall.

"Garden" - Doom PWAD Jenesis: Map 10
  Apeing the others nomming tracks from Doom mods.  Composed by Stuart Ryan and simple enough to locate on his channel, among other sources.  It's an Extra pick so locating this will probably never come up though I can track down a link.

[superaielman]

FM4 track is Pride and Honor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgQ_63EDwH0

[superaielman]

  I lost interest in the past contests (and the main DL itself) because it trended towards too groupthinky and not enough willingness to vote on or discover things.

Okay,  this annoys me.

The main site was about balancing what the community wanted, what the voters played (big difference there), and making sure that the work got done. Obscure games were a pain in the fucking ass, both for writing and for the drain that they were on voters/interest. We had 70~ games ranked by the end, that is a fuck of a lot to remember (Let alone spend the time and money for).  The community on the whole put a lot of effort and time into playing new things and trying new games. Implying otherwise is wrong and insulting to boot.  Any comparison between the two doesn't hold up otherwise. It takes a few minutes to listen to a track and this is just for us;  playing a RPG takes 20-60 hours.

As far as the music topic goes: I like finding new things in this topic but I'm nomming tracks I like and that are fun in the contest. I nommed more mainstream things to balance things out, as most of the noms look new this time. We'll see where it goes.

[Cmdr_King]

Since the topic keeps coming up, I want to expand on the whole dropped noms possibility.

Apparently there's some confusion on why this would come up?  I prefer 1v1 matches, so I'm using brackets.  Which means that you have to find a way to get powers of 2 in the final pool.  Based on current eyeballing of the topic that means 256 noms.  I'm not sure EXACTLY where we are, but a quick count says more than 200 so it'll be close one way or the other in all likelihood.

Upon prodding memory, there's two steps I should write down so I don't forget them later if it comes up:

1. CK noms are the first to go if some need to go.
2. If people can be reached at time pools are being assembled then seeking volunteers (assuming the number of needed drops was small: single digits say) would happen.

Beyond that I'm reluctant to commit to any one approach before seeing the final tallies.  While in some scenarios buy-in rounds or similar solutions will work nicely, that depends the specific outcomes.  And in the end maintaining timely updates (example: if it takes all day to do the pools and it's getting towards bed time, and the choice is "take the wheel for that last cut" or "wait a week") will win out over perfect fairness and I have to trust my own judgement in those cases.  I do want to take steps to minimize this, but not acknowledging the possibility would be dishonest.

I do so many tourneys that "is this obscure" is kinda an intuitive process for me, but to formalize it as much as possible...
1. How many people do I know of off the cuff have played this.
2. Have I heard of it.
3. Or its series/developers
4. How many people do I know are familiar with that series.
And failing everything in terms of personal knowledge...
5. Do the major wikis (TV Tropes is my first source usually) have entries for it, and how robust are they if so.

I've found it pretty accurate and trustworthy on the whole, since I do so much of this stuff, but obviously it might not be super well suited for this format.  More than that, and this is something that's come up in discussion trying to piece together what does and doesn't need addressed, I think I'm more worried about flooding particular games.  This is something a bit more universally applicable, although I'm not entirely sure how or if it should be done.  But I've definitely been mulling it over.

Beyond that there's not a whole lot I can say before I start the process of sitting down to count and record everything.

[Twilkitri]

Tracks listed in mostly arbitrary order.

Less stressful:
1L: Mysterious People for Suikoden 3
2L: Waterfall for Koudelka
3L: Snowbelle City for Pokémon X & Y
4L: Where The Wind And Feathers Return for Radiant Historia
5L: Blue Bird Lamentation (2nd) for Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma
6L: Thorn In You for Fire Emblem Fates: Whichever
7L: Reporting From The Weather Balloon for Little Inferno

More stressful:
1M: "Boss Battle Theme 2" for Tokyo Mirage Sessions: ♯FE
2M: Battlefield: With Eyes Blazing for Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends Of The Titan
3M: Depend On Me for Solatorobo: Red The Hunter
4M: Dummy! for Undertale
5M: Flock Step for Rhythm Heaven Megamix
6M: Fighting To The End for Bravely Default: Where The Fairy Flies
7M: Mountain Mania for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze


Reserves:
8L: BGM E: Mystery for Picross 3D: Round 2
8M: Over Boss for Princess Remedy In A Heap Of Trouble (15:39 through 19:23)
9L: Shifty Boo Mansion for Super Mario 3D World
9M: Winged My Steps for Half-Minute Hero: The Second Coming

[NotMiki]

So for my list I decided to do things that are new, unrepresented, or God Hand.  I didn’t want to limit myself to 15 songs, so I’ve numbered those I’d like to see get in, and the rest are alternates or whatever, or just to listen to.

Risk of Rain

1. Tropic of Cancer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dGpteJyMK8&index=9&list=PLLDf8Bnp1K1Kkk3Kbepm9UamqHjMZlgsb

RoR’s got a great, menacing, idiosyncratic soundtrack, and this here’s my favorite from it.  It’s a boss fight typically in the later stages of the game

Hollow Knight

2. City of Tears https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1unm0LS10ao

So Hollow Knight is a metroidvania taking place in a decrepit, failing insect kingdom, and City of Tears is the music that plays when you (finally) reach its capital, about halfway through the game, which by the way you all should totally do because it is a really, really good game you guys, and when it comes out on switch/ps4 you can bet your butt I’ll be harassing all of you to play it.  Where was I?

God Hand

3. God Hand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFSen7DRQWU

About which I can add nothing.

DDR SuperNova

4. Xepher - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upvHNBjzeF0

DDR X

5. Switch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjyFrznuHuU

I was thinking a bit about what you even say to the question of how rhythm game music is used in-game, what the context is.  What I chose for DDR are the songs that to me are the best suited to the game, that have innate qualities that make them a lot of fun.  For DDR, the sweet spot is a rhythm that is fast, loud, energetic, moderately complex, and punchy.

Love Live School Idol Festival

6. Watashitachi wa Mirai no Hana https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3hsi-qNV28

I wanted to include more Love Live music, but all the youtube videos of it are awful.  Oh well.

Deemo

7. The Witch's Invitation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3FwUCKTFj8
8. Parallel Universe - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpfQ91VgXrY
The Forbidden Codex - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAmgQvCCUoY

Deemo is a rhythm game for phones/tablets.  The game is a fantasy setting that stars a young girl who, by some means, has come to live in a lonely world inhabited by her and a mute, humanoid being called Deemo, who plays the piano.  As you play the rhythm game, a tree in the world grows, and the mystery of the setting unfolds.  The game plays on nostalgia, whimsy, childhood, and a search for meaning.  The music and the images that go along with it sometimes give hints as to the plot and setting, as Parallel Universe does, or sometimes tell unrelated stories.  The Witch’s Invitation and Forbidden Codex are both part of the ‘Knight Iris’ collection that lays out a tale of tragedy and revenge.

Project Diva F 2nd

Kokoro - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-t_WoGHMgg
9. Break it Break it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWULwSjy1Xw

Project Diva Future Tone

The Snow White Princess Is... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCaqf9WhqOY
10. Step Forward - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKcQ9KwCFTE
T H E  B O N E  Z O N E (aka Skeleton Orchestra and Lilia aka Gaikotsu Gakudan to Riria) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2tO6wQL7TE
No Logic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ZwTvVYBbI
Denparadigm - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uJXQtp620s
11. Arifureta Sekai Seifuku (Common World Domination) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhrCE15CpC8

Vocaloid music really speaks for itself so I don’t have a lot to say about it.  If you’re not familiar, vocaloid games use music culled from the community of mostly amateur composers that create music using the vocaloid sound simulation software, so you get some pretty idiosyncratic stuff (and a lot of dreck also).  I encourage you to watch the videos.

Tokyo 7th Sisters

12. Fire and Rose - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvsUnz9nXvo
 Bokura wa aozora ni naru - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40TO1E1AT5g
13. Hello...my friend - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4waokl4p0E
Clover x Clover - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfqpTvDxfY0
14. Twilight - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bQIX85ECYI
Falling Down - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBusu-bz4h8
Cocoro Magical - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woQ2diwInBU

Tokyo 7th Sisters is a mobile rhythm game (with some pokemon-inspired combat elements as well).  The rhythm game component uses only 2 buttons, so unlike other mobile rhythm games the challenge that is lost from having fewer things to think about resurfaces in deeply complex rhythms and tricks.  Tonfa would probably hate playing it, but I am fond of that sort of design.  As it happens, of the songs I’ve nominated, only Falling Down is from that deep end of difficulty.  They’re just a representative sample of music from the game that I particularly like.

Persona 4: Dancing All Night

15. Snowflakes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVvHm7kKEkw

I thought most of the P4DAN Remixes were kinda weak - like, they were good dance remixes but what makes good dance music doesn't make good rhythm game music.  But this? this is lovely.

BlazBlue: Chronophantasma

Science Fiction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grF717fy79w

Kokonoe's theme.  Builds well.  I like it.

Ys VIII: Lacramosa of Dana

Lacramosa of Dana - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-2SAPCGgFw&index=1&list=PLFUKmme134BNIZ2vmerr543NkgxgCmni4
Sunshine Coastline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8NcbPPB6Yw&list=PLFUKmme134BNIZ2vmerr543NkgxgCmni4&index=5
A-to-Z - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88QD5qniwo4&list=PLFUKmme134BNIZ2vmerr543NkgxgCmni4&index=53

Ok the game's not out yet but just listen to this stuff.  So damn good!  September 12 for NA, September 15 for EU.

[Talaysen]

I hope the top 15 don't need to be ordered...  Also I don't remember what's been in before so if any of these have let me know.

1) Reel Rumble - Final Fantasy XV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsDpuDm-qzQ
Intense fishing!!

2) Buried City - Wild Arms 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unE6_4PwZpA

3) Izareya - Atelier Violet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRCWLPg0O4o

4) Last Surprise - Persona 5

5) Evolution Era - Deemo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTvjQNSv5k8

6) Agame yo, Ware wa Shinki - Atelier Escha & Logy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3hXhQYIycM

7) EXEC_METEMPSYCHOSIS/. - Ar tonelico III
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPcXWAnhn2I

8) CIEL_N_PROTECTA - Ar no Surge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mObp9qfDDuE

9) Origin - GENETOS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTCf62Frf5s
GENETOS is a shmup where you play through the history of shmups.  You start out with a ship that can only move in one dimension and fight against space invaders.  As you progress, your ship evolves (there are multiple evolution paths), unlocking new features and mechanics, such as bombs and subweapons.  The enemies and environments also start to look more modern as you go.
This song is for the first half of the final stage, which goes through phases of evolution of a planet.  The first three phases are completely timed and the music reflects that.  The fourth stage is not timed (and can take a long time if you don't know what you're doing), so the music will loop until you finish.

10) Penitus - Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx3QPiTcXa4
The music for the last dungeon in the A Realm Reborn 2.0 storyline.

11) Locus - Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cKy5Qk0QMM
Heavensward had a lot of good music, but this was the most "unique" in my opinion.  This is played during most of the Alexander raid battles throughout Heavensward.

12) Metal - Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhDvQIqEkuI
Another song from the Alexander raid.  This is for the final boss of Gordias (Manipulator) as well as the first half of the final fight of Midas (the second part is Brute Justice which was nominated earlier in this topic).
The goblins are the ones summoning Alexander, and they have a fairly simplistic way of speaking.  They use a lot of onomatopoeia and simple compound words.  The lyrics do a good job of keeping that style.

13)

New World Order - from Granblue Fantasy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKcXCvjcDBU

14) Just a Coffin and an Automaton - Atelier Ayesha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xnTRq_PC7k

15)

Steins;Gate - Gate of Steiner - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVQj-yv91m4
Really good game (and anime) kind of like a reverse Terminator series with less action and more science.  A few decades in the future, a time machine that can send weak electronic signals (short emails or text messages) into the past is invented.  A covert time war ensues between the totalitarian dystopia of the future and the resistance leaders, who, in the present, are a motley group of deadbeat college students.  This is the "main theme" that plays rarely, when some particularly big event or emotional revelation happens.  Great track, highly remixable.

---
More Stuff That's Good (Reserves / May Move Up if I Change My Mind)

Beneath this Blue Sky - Atelier Violet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwj2SEcMdFc

Empty Corridor - Atelier Iris 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PigW6UJrPo

Visiting the Ancient Castle - Atelier Iris 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0LH7rTA2TE

GO GO TOTORI - Atelier Totori
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqG2FfNfn1E

Cadena - Atelier Meruru
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laahA764Qjc

Flower Marks - Atelier Ayesha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltrDPd5sIY8

XaaaCi. - Ar tonelico III
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGaM07Pc-nI

Class::XIO PROCEED - Ar no Surge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9VIF_CWV2s

始原のビート　～ Pristine Beat - Touhou Kishinjou ~ Double Dealing Character
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPZjh4cKiRM

Cosmos - La soeur de barrage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmWuZlP7NIo

Answer - GENETOS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi4v4f-agrw

Nine Point Eight - Deemo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI2TpFZ27BE

Ultima - Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZZDnlAg3Pk

Fiend - Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMciY-HYqQU

Power of the Light - Mugen Souls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNZd4jnRfkg

Harukana Tabimichi, Amakakeru Sensen - from Granblue Fantasy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Ch5X_miHs

[Niu]

Guys, not just Deemo. Nom something from Cytus too!

[NotMiki]

Guys, not just Deemo. Nom something from Cytus too!

I've never gotten that familiar with Cytus music because the game is pretty much unplayable on smartphone.  I always smile when I play it because who thought this design where notes reverse directions every measure was a good idea?  It's absolutely bonkers.  I'd say it's the SaGa of rhythm games, but you can't get a game over no matter what so maybe not.  I kinda love it, but I barely ever play it.

[Cmdr_King]

Alrighty!

My goal is to get voting of some sort started by Sunday night (or possibly Monday afternoon).  As such, it's time to start the process of collecting, formatting, and arranging the noms.

As such: if you've already submitted noms, please notify me if you are changing them.  Posts in thread, board PMs, or via irc are all fine, I just need to know a) what you're removing  and b) what you're replacing it with.

If you haven't submitted noms but would like to, they're still open!  No real need to worry about that, and if this does come up I'll make a second post letting those folks know they've been counted and need to inform me of changes as well.

PS: Thanks to everyone for taking a lot of the legwork of digging up links out of things!

[Niu]

Alrighty!

My goal is to get voting of some sort started by Sunday night (or possibly Monday afternoon).  As such, it's time to start the process of collecting, formatting, and arranging the noms.

As such: if you've already submitted noms, please notify me if you are changing them.  Posts in thread, board PMs, or via irc are all fine, I just need to know a) what you're removing  and b) what you're replacing it with.

If you haven't submitted noms but would like to, they're still open!  No real need to worry about that, and if this does come up I'll make a second post letting those folks know they've been counted and need to inform me of changes as well.

PS: Thanks to everyone for taking a lot of the legwork of digging up links out of things!

I have made some adjustments here and there before you made this post.

[DragonKnight Zero]

Well, I'm up to 15 noms and 6 Extra with one known duplication of another person's nom mixed in.

Didn't remove anything but did move Megamari - Title  into my 15 picks from the Extra catagory.  I suppose that calls for a notification.

Some of my later additions are in the middle of my post because I tried to clump all the obscure stuff next to each other.  Sorry.

[Cmdr_King]

Everything's counted, and I'm rolling up the first set of matches now.  As such, noms are closed!  See y'all soon.