Song of the Week - WEEK 85 Voting/WEEK 86 Nominating
 

Week 85 Voting is closed.
Week 86 Nominating is restricted.

Week 85 Voting
The rules for voting can be found here.

Results:
1). [24] Sword Maniac - Mad Buffoon
2). [15] Ratchet Deadlocked (Game Rip) - Stygia - Energy Collector
3). [13] Voodoo Vince Original Xbox game music - Zombie Guidance Counselor
4). [12] Mythri (Game Rip) - Strike Battle (BATTLE BGM)
5). [11] [eM] -eNCHANT arM- Original Soundtrack - The People of London City
6). [6] The Legend of Kyrandia 3 Malcolm's Revenge (PC Game Rip) - Kyrandia
7). [5] The Legend of Kyrandia (Game Rip) - Castle Dungeon
8). [4] Ultima VI The False Prophet (Game Rip) - Bootup

Tracks:
[eM] -eNCHANT arM- Original Soundtrack - The People of London City
Mythri (Game Rip) - Strike Battle (BATTLE BGM)
Ratchet Deadlocked (Game Rip) - Stygia - Energy Collector
Sword Maniac - Mad Buffoon
The Legend of Kyrandia (Game Rip) - Castle Dungeon
The Legend of Kyrandia 3 Malcolm's Revenge (PC Game Rip) - Kyrandia
Ultima VI The False Prophet (Game Rip) - Bootup
Voodoo Vince Original Xbox game music - Zombie Guidance Counselor

Notes:
If you are a member at more than one of the forums which this event is being held at, please nominate and vote in only ONE of the forums. You may, however, comment in the threads at any of the other forums.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mythri (Game Rip) - Strike Battle (BATTLE BGM) originally had one loop, and was altered by Drakken to have two loops. The original has been uploaded to the Extras directory for those demanding original encoding quality.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Legend of Kyrandia (Game Rip) - Castle Dungeon was originally in Ogg Vorbis format. This version has been used to make an MP3 for greater compatibility. The original .ogg file has been uploaded to the Extras directly for those demanding original encoding quality.

Week 86 Nominating
The Nominations Queue can be found here.
The rules for nominating can be found here.
A list of previous nominations can be found here.

Here is the link to the corresponding thread at the other forum:
- Soundtrack Central

Pimpage
The "Best Chiptune Contest" is starting! Round one now open for voting!

Hahaha, Drakken left the "TWO LOOPS WOW" in the file name of the Mythri track. :D

Anyway, the nom I preempted last time for Strike Battle is getting the shaft again because I finally managed to finish a rip. I spent more than a month torrenting this game because there were no seeds on the ISO. And I just spent a bunch of time in the lab ripping the movies and audio because none of the tools have Mac equivalents.

The sad thing is that, despite all the effort I put into acquiring this track, it's going to come in eighth place. :(

• Artist: Toshikazu Tanaka, Dencyu, Masanosuke Fujiwara, Momoeika, Ryuji Mutou, Moamo & Cheiko, Uchida, Nami Matusima, Aya Fujimoto
• Album/Game Title: Shin Gouketsuji Ichizoku: Bonnou Kaihou (Game Rip)
• Track Title: Let's Go! Necromancer (Extended Version)
• Year: 2006
• Additional Information: This game is the PS2 version of New Power Instinct ~Matrimelee~. As a bonus, the game includes four music videos. Three of the videos are set to one loop of the stage themes Overclock Excitement, Our Secrets, and No Money Ranger. The fourth, however, features a significantly expanded version of Let's Go! Necromancer, the forest stage theme. All sorts of new good stuff. Also, everyone in that artist field after Toshikazu Tanaka is a vocalist.
• Source: http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/data/930001.html, http://www.gamingforce.com/audio/gfa-albums.php?id=4037

After relistening to the Deadlocked soundtrack, I'm thinking I should have nominated a different track. Oh well, "Energy Collector" is still quite good.

The thing is, you can never tell with those nutty Nipponese and their wacky track titles. I can totally see him cutting that off and getting an OMG Y U TRUNKATE?
I feel for you, man. I still have to use an emulator to play PSF2's and miniPSF's. The Mac community needs some serious love in that regard.

[eM] -eNCHANT arM- Original Soundtrack - The People of London City My nom. I played the game briefly before the characters annoyed me, and obtained the OST on the off chance that any of the tunes were good. This is the result: a track that has shot from nothing to #1 on my "most played" list in the space of a week. The acoustic guitar is the real strength of the track, with complexity and memorability the orders of the day. The melody, which is passed around the woodwind section, is an extension of the acoustic guitar part, and is addictive as crack. The only downside is that there's virtually nothing else of merit on the entire OST.

Mythri (Game Rip) - Strike Battle (BATTLE BGM) I think this would have done well in the BCC; the piece has nice drive and melody coupled with an intriguing, jagged structure. Reminds me vaguely of a Wily tune. I have to say, even though I'm aware that people's noms were limited, that it's depressing to see better chiptunes in SoTW than the BCC.

Ratchet Deadlocked (Game Rip) - Stygia - Energy Collector I've never really gotten into the Ratchet series, either as a player or a listener. The music (that I've heard, anyway) stresses rhythm and texture at the expense of melodic content, which is an approach that rarely scored well on my personal scale. Energy Collector is energetic; it only it could collect a more prominent melody.

Sword Maniac - Mad Buffoon The into is a bit misleading; beginning as strictly bouncyfun, the track eventually opens up to encompass a more expansive sound. It's a little chaotic and more than a tad Kikuta-ish, but ultimately satisfying, though I'd have preferred a more consistent melodic core.

The Legend of Kyrandia (Game Rip) - Castle Dungeon The Legend of Kyrandian Music in SoTW: Part the First. Being an Atmospheric Track with Melody of the Decent sort, but Nothing to excite the Spleen or to Distinguish it from the many Similar Tunes which doth Populate yon Land.

The Legend of Kyrandia 3 Malcolm's Revenge (PC Game Rip) - Kyrandia The Legend of Kyrandian Music in SoTW: Part the Second. In which He known as Jazz doth appear, bringing forth Melody and Atmosphere in his Wake. While the powerful Trinket of Memorability doth elude him, He succeeds in Bettering the First Part, allusions to Which were previously Made.

Ultima VI The False Prophet (Game Rip) - Bootup More acoustic guitar. I love the instrument almost as much as I dislike its electric counterpart. The music here is nice and performed with a certain amount of flair, but seems a little flat compared to London City (though I am admittedly biased on that part). It ends rather abruptly too, and I think that a second loop might have enhanced the track's natural charms.

Voodoo Vince Original Xbox game music - Zombie Guidance Counselor More jazz, this time combined with a healthy N'yawlins flavor and some odd instruments. Reminds me of Grim Fandango, actually. Either that or Live and Let Die. Perhaps both.

Nice week. Nothing stank out loud, and several tracks were quite wonderful. I must admit to being disappointed by the double-barrelled Kyrandia, but this wouldn't be the first time Klepacki has failed to interest me.

The Point Spread
The People of London City - 3 pts.
Strike Battle - 1 pt.
Mad Buffoon - 1 pt.
Bootup - 1 pt.

I renamed the Mythri track, so get it from here until the link in the first post is fixed.

Also some crudz:

Mythri (Game Rip) - Strike Battle (BATTLE BGM) originally had one loop, and was altered by Drakken to have two loops. The original has been uploaded to the Extras directory for those demanding original encoding quality.

The Legend of Kyrandia (Game Rip) - Castle Dungeon was originally in Ogg Vorbis format. This version has been used to make an MP3 for greater compatibility. The original .ogg file has been uploaded to the Extras directly for those demanding original encoding quality.

Additional Spam:
I thought about trying to shoehorn it into the BCC; it wouldn't have been eligible straight away because Mythri was never completed or released. Plus, I wanted to get that Toki Tori track in, which eliminated any other GB tracks in contention because of my silly quest to nominate tracks from ten different systems.

Ah, I see. I hope it does well; certainly one of my favorites this week.

The link in the first post has been updated; no vestige of TWO LOOPS remains :)

I'm back! Nomination time!

Album: Saiyuki Journey West OST
Track Title: Fierce God
Track #: 19
Artist: MASA
Year: 1999
Catalog: KECH-1164

I'm not a big Sakimoto fan but I really like Mad Buffoon. The chord progression in some parts is a little derivative but that's made up for by the melody which is excellent. Of course knowing Sakimoto the rest of the soundtrack is probably made entirely of different arrangements of this melody.

Stygia is, well, R&C, but I wasn't as impressed by it as much as alot of other tracks in the game. I'm pretty sure this track is by Niels Bye Nielsen since the Ratchet-bass drum sound effect in the beginning is recycled from the song "The Ultra Zone" by Steve Vai, an album Nielsen worked on in sampling and orchestration (srsly google it). Either that or it's a common stock sound effect.

The People of London City is probably the most pleasant listen of the bunch, but it doesn't pull me in quite as much as Mad Buffoon or Stygia. It's got nice harmony and the melody is smooth, enough to compliment the acoustic guitar but not so much that it dominates the track.

Strike Battle does a good job of sounding like jap VGM battle music, which Mad Buffoon does better.

Castle Dungeon is nice harmonically but I just get a little tired of hearing so many damn arpeggios. Maybe a little stronger melody could have improved it.

The Voodoo Vince OST as a whole, while I support the fact that it's jazz and VGM, is really not that great. Alot of gamers were impressed by it but that's probably because they've haven't heard very much 'real' jazz before.

Kyrandia and Ultima VI weren't remarkable but I didn't find them to be all that bad either.

3 points - Mad Buffoon
2 Points - Stygia - Energy Collector
1 Point - The People of London City

(Hey guys this is the first SotW I've participated in am I doing it right?)

Yes. Good job!

(2 pts.) Sword Maniac - Mad Buffoon
(2 pts.) Mythri (Game Rip) - Strike Battle (BATTLE BGM)
(1 pt.) Ultima VI The False Prophet (Game Rip) - Bootup
(1 pt.) Ratchet Deadlocked (Game Rip) - Stygia - Energy Collector

Pretty crappy week IMHO.

It appears we're low on nominations again.

LARGE TEXT, ETC.

One happy-happy-lalala nomination coming right up.

• Artist: KONAMI KUKEIHA CLUB
• Album/Game Title: Madara Mouryousenki
• Track Title: Ones of Serenity (Town Theme)
• Disc Number: 1 (of 1)
• Track Number: 02
• Catalog Number: KICA-1008
• Year: 1990
• File Location: http://gh.ffshrine.org/song/5697/2
• Source(s): http://www.gmronline.com/info.asp?CatNumber=KICA-1008

I WILL get my votes in on time this week. :p

Tentative nomination:

EDIT: Scratch the Sudeki nom. I'm going with the Jeroen Tel song I should have nominated for the BCC, but didn't.

Album/Game: Out Run Europa (C64 rip)
Composer: Jeroen Tel
Track Title: Main Theme
Track #: N/A
Catalog #: N/A
Year: 1991
Source: sid.oth4.com
Comments: This one's got a good melody, but it's mainly about awesome rhythm. I really should have gotten this in the BCC, but I didn't end up liking it a lot until the nomination period was over.

This was an acceptable week, although nothing floored me with its originality, nor did anything cause me to wish I'd found it first.

[eM] -eNCHANT arM- Original Soundtrack - The People of London City: Cute, a little on the fluffy side and slightly lacking in melody. But this is one of those tracks where the whole journey is the focus, not the destination. But it's extremely relaxing, something I enjoy.

Mythri (Game Rip) - Strike Battle (BATTLE BGM): Megaman 2 wants its lost track back, thank you. That said, if you ever found the music from the Megaman series enjoyable, then there's absolutely no reason you'll dislike "Strike Battle".

Ratchet Deadlocked (Game Rip) - Stygia - Energy Collector: It amazes me how often Ratchet music can be so intense, yet feel as if absolutely nothing is happening. What Bergeaud excels in is creating driving ambience - his layering is fantastic and there's enough variation to satisfy anyone - but it also tends to meander about itself. Still, I can't dismiss the sheer quality of the sound; the workmanship is top-notch.

Sword Maniac - Mad Buffoon: Yeah, it's good. Not much else to say. This is to be expected of Sakimoto.

The Legend of Kyrandia (Game Rip) - Castle Dungeon: Sorry, this kind of music is a good way to put me to sleep. I realize there's an audience for it. I'm just not in that audience.

The Legend of Kyrandia 3 Malcolm's Revenge (PC Game Rip) - Kyrandia: Jazzier, but in that "elevator jazz" way. I really wouldn't notice this music in-game. It does pick up right before the end, but then it...ends. That's the point at which I finally began to see something I liked. A shame.

Ultima VI The False Prophet (Game Rip) - Bootup: Quite dreary, isn't it? That tends to lose my interest quickly. The short length doesn't allow it to build into anything better either.

Voodoo Vince Original Xbox game music - Zombie Guidance Counselor: Those who call this jazzy would only be half-right. There's a strong swing influence as well. I kind of like the 60s era vibe that flows throughout. Admittedly, this kind of music is an acquired taste but I've never minded it one bit. Not bad. Not bad at all.

2 Points: Sword Maniac - Mad Buffoon
2 Points: Voodoo Vince Original Xbox game music - Zombie Guidance Counselor
1 Point: Ratchet Deadlocked (Game Rip) - Stygia - Energy Collector
1 Point: Mythri (Game Rip) - Strike Battle (BATTLE BGM)

i WILL get in my votes this week... as well

Nomination:

* Artist: Kenichiro Fukui
* Album/Game Title: Project Sylpheed Original Soundtrack
* Track Title: Operation Nebula Blaze
* Disc Number: 1 (of 1)
* Track Number: 13
* Catalog Number: SQEX-10080
* Year: 2006
* Source(s): http://www.gamingforce.com/audio/gfa-albums.php?id=3648

And I will start with a nomination...
 

Artist: Takaki "Mar" Masahiro of Zuntata
Game: Night Striker
Album: Darius II -GSM Taito 4-
Name: "Burning Road"
Disc #: 2 (of 2)
Track #: 23 (if you're looking for this on Galbadia, select #223)
Catalog #: PCCB-00010
Year: 1989
Notes: The track actually contains both this and "Boss 6". "Burning Road" is, of course, the first song of the two; you might want to section off the rest of the track and put the song proper in the Extras folder or something...
Source: http://www.chudahs-corner.com/soundt...log=PCCB-00010
Unfortunately, I'm having trouble relocating where I learned that Takaki was the composer...

Since there seems to be a nomination storm going on...

Artist: Steve Burke
Game: Kameo: Elements of Power
Album: Kameo: Elements of Power Bonus Tracks
Name: Trainer Cave
Disc #: n/a
Track #: n/a
Catalog #: n/a
Year: 2006
Notes: http://www.rareware.com/mp3/Kameo_TrainerCave.mp3

Incidentally, were we planning on extending voting this week? If not, best make it clear so the procrastinators don't all post after voting closes again.

For the folks at home, Burning Road was the 202 seed in BSC '06 and made it to the second round. So, the eligibility might be a little suspect.

Mar definitely did Night Striker, by the way. http://www.arcade-history.com/index....asahiko+Takaki

The first round finishes up tonight, so I wasn't planning on extending voting this time unless people want me to.

Is this going to be another 2 week voting, or 1 week again?

...BSC '06? The Nomination Archive never mentioned anything that sounded remotely like that. Links, if you would (so I don't make the same mistake again...if this proves to be a mistake, anyway)?

And simply because I'm Mr. Picky...Takaki didn't do all of Night Striker--just "Burning Road" and "Boss 6" (I think also "Shimeru" and "Commune", though). The soundtrack seems to have been a group project for Zuntata. Ogura "OGR" Hisayoshi, for example, did "Urban Trail", "Terrorist", and "Boss 5", while Kawamoto Tamayo did "Aquarius", "Fly Away", "Boss 4", and "Maghrib".

Looks like one week only as per CHz, unless people ask for an extension en masse.
The BSC is the Best Song Contest, which runs concurrently with but is separate from SoTW. Generally, songs from the BSC don't come to SoTW very often, though tunes that start in SoTW occasionally migrate to the BSC.

There's no rule against having BSC entrants in SoTW, though; if no one protests and the tune meets the obscurity guidelines, I don't see why we shouldn't allow it.

As orion_mk3 said, it's a separate event from Song of the Week, but a lot of the SotWers participate in it too. We never had a rule on BSC involvement automatically disqualifying a song from SotW, but it can affect a song's obscurity and maybe push it over the limit.

This list looks strikingly like the names that appear next to the tracks in this listing of Night Striker Complete Album. However, those are all arranger credits. Check the credits scan from the album. It lists all those people (and Yack and Shu as well) as arrangers, but only Mar as the actual composer.

I remember Burning Road appearing in BSC, but I don't remember how it goes. I guess I'm OK with it being allowed.

As for SotW, one week is fine with me.

I have a question regarding the obscurity requirement that is need for the SotW. The thing is I've been going through songs that I could possibly nominate next week, but I'm not sure if they're obscure enough. Are Rockman albums pretty much taboo for the SotW?

Oh yeah, not that I'm not against giving ppl more time for voting, but I think 1 week is enough time.

In general, I'd say yes, unless it's a very obscure entry in the series; anything from the classic or X or Battle Network is most likely right out.

What exactly did you have in mind?

We've had two MM tracks: Esperanto from RTRZ: Physis and Steel Massimo from MMX: Command Mission. That should give you a little idea of what acceptable entries from the series are.

SonicPanda thought about nominating a ZX Tunes track a little while ago, and the discussion was borderline if I remember correctly, but he decided to go with a different game instead, so nothing was decided there.

Oh. My. GOD. YES.

That's gonna win.

It wasn't super high on my own priority list, but it's something I'd considered nominating before. It's definitely an awesome track, though. Nice pick!

Artist: Yoshinori Kawamoto
* Album/Game Title: Burning Force (From Namco Game Sound Express vol2)
* Track Title: Sarinuka Sands (2nd Day)
* Disc Number: 1 (of 1)
* Track Number: 3
* Year: 1990
* Source(s):http://chudahs-corner.com/soundtrack...log=VICL-15001 (*watches the cover* wow, what a nice weapon :P)
EDIT: I uploaded the file to the server

Well, I had initially thought about maybe something from Command Mission or X7, but I'm starting to think that maybe that wouldn't be obscure enough.

On another note, I remember someone mentioning a list of series that were not eligible (prolly Drakken). Where is that list or is it just a mental list?

Some of us thought it would be good to have a list, and I started working on one on my own. It's nothing official or complete, so, no list right now.

Even if/when the list is finished, it'll still just be a guideline--the community is the ultimate decider of what's eligible or not.

I was also interested in nominating something from MMX7. If you ask me, I think that all the MM songs should be allowed with the exception of the NES ones, and MMX1.

lol, yeah X7 has a lot of great music; IMHO X7 music is better than X8 music. I was thinking of nominating either 12 Just before Red~Palace Road Stage or 13 Infiltration~Crimson Palace Stage 1.

Eh, I seem to think that the NES and X1~3 music is pretty well known. All Classic music is not very well known though, particularly with the spinoff games; the same goes for EXE. Zero music seems to be very well known, as well as ZX. Ryuusei has pretty crappy music though.

(Sorry for the sidetrack. :plant:)

The trouble with that is that you begin to blur the line between what is actually obscure and what isn't.

I would agree that amongst MMX titles, X7 is probably less recognized than the first three titles, even possibly the first five. However, the X series as a whole has a large recognition factor amongst gamers, and is known to have produced a lot of popular music.

I've personally dealt with this dilemma because I came across an official Megaman 4 album that contained an arrangement of an unused track. This track is supposedly encoded into the cartridge but was never featured in a stage.
The arrangement is quite nice and I'd wager that 90% of most Megaman fans would never recognize the track as a Megaman tune. However, the finer point remains: it's from an extremely popular series. Where does the obscurity boundary lie?

I've never attempted to nominate the track because I honestly don't know what everyone would say. Arrangements tend to be more obscure, but this is such a borderline case, I never wanted to rock the boat.

If it were me, I'd wait for the yearly Best Song Contest to nominate anything from a Megaman X series. I feel that it's just a tad too popular for SotW's purposes. There's plenty of other music out there, regardless of how much any of us might enjoy MMX7.

My next nom:

* Artist: Ken Nakagawa
* Album/Game Title: Ar Tonelico
* Track Title: What My World Is Wishing For
* Disc Number: 1
* Track Number: 31
* Catalog Number: KDSD-10012~3
* Year: 2005
* Source(s): RPGamer

Also, from Dragon God:

• Artist: Hyakutarou Tsukumo
• Album/Game Title: Nekketsu Oyako (Sega Saturn Red Book Audio)
• Track Title: Mega Tokyo 2064 - Outer City Road
• Disc Number: 1 (of 1)
• Track Number: 3
• Year: 1995
• Source: http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/saturn/data/577520.html

1 point ~ [eM] -eNCHANT arM- Original Soundtrack - The People of London City

2 pòints ~ Sword Maniac - Mad Buffoon

3 points ~ The Legend of Kyrandia (Game Rip) - Castle Dungeon

I listened to these tracks on Monday, but only now am I getting around to voting. A decent week, on the whole.

(2 points) Mad Buffoon
(2 points) Stygia - Energy Collector
(1 point) Strike Battle
(1 point) Kyrandia (not the other one, Castle Dungeon).

Just missed a point: The People Of London City

You're Pretty, But Too Short: Bootup

I Appreciate It, But It Doesn't Mean I Have To Love It: Zombie Guidance Counselor

Atmospheric, But That's It: Castle Dungeon


Nomination:

I don't worry about the album being too well known, but I worry about the song. So correct me if this track has been nominated for a previous SotW or a BSC.

# Artist: Darren Mitchell
# Album/Game Title: Turok 2: Seeds Of Evil
# Track Title: AudioTrack 01 (or Level 1)
# Year: 1999
# Additional Information: I have a rip of the game. No known ripper, no file info, nothing. However, there was an official released soundtrack called Violence Killer: Turok New Generation Original Soundtrack. The track here is the third track from that release. It definitely is from the first level of the game, despite the absence of track names from the rip I have.

Really good week. I've enjoyed all of these tracks, and I guess it's a shotgun spread for me this time.

1 point each:
Mythri (Game Rip) - Strike Battle (BATTLE BGM)
Ratchet Deadlocked (Game Rip) - Stygia - Energy Collector
Sword Maniac - Mad Buffoon
The Legend of Kyrandia (Game Rip) - Castle Dungeon
The Legend of Kyrandia 3 Malcolm's Revenge (PC Game Rip) - Kyrandia
Ultima VI The False Prophet (Game Rip) - Bootup

Violence Killer: Turok New Generation Original Soundtrack - Level 1 [Port of Adia] placed third in Week 14. Same song?

I am going to remember to vote this week!

2 points - Sword Maniac - Mad Buffoon
2 points - Voodoo Vince Original Xbox game music - Zombie Guidance Counselor
1 point - [eM] -eNCHANT arM- Original Soundtrack - The People of London City
1 point - The Legend of Kyrandia 3 Malcolm's Revenge (PC Game Rip) - Kyrandia

It's definitely the same song.

EDIT: [eM] -eNCHANT arM- Original Soundtrack - The People of London City - I thought this was OK. Not really my thing, though. I particularly didn't care for the off-sounding strings. I realize they're that way purposely, but still.

Mythri (Game Rip) - Strike Battle (BATTLE BGM) TWO LOOPS WOW - This one's really grown on me. Very energetic, but it's not just energetic, it's got a good melody too. I like it quite a bit.

Ratchet: Deadlocked (Game Rip) - Stygia - Energy Collector - I'm sure this works well in the game, but I find it merely decent listening material.

Sword Maniac - Mad Buffoon - My nom. I found this while looking through Hayato Matsuo's work (he's the Master of Monsters guy). It just so happened that I loved this song, but didn't like Matsuo's SM songs.

Anyway, I'm not sure what to say about this one. It starts off like some silly carnival song, but soon becomes the cool funky song it is.

And c'mon, how could you not love the bassin' shortly before the loop? Gold.

The Legend of Kyrandia 3 - Malcom's Revenge - Kyrandia - This is a good song; definitely the better of the two Kyrandia tracks. Enjoyable easy listening.

The Legend of Kyrandia - Castle Dungeon - Kind of a cool piano song. I get the feeling I should like this more than I do.

Ultima VI: The False Prophet - Bootup - Ah, always nice to hear acoustic guitar songs. This one's good.

Voodoo Vince - Zombie Guidance Counselor - I like that a song like this was nominated for SotW. This kind of jazzy style is needed more in vgm.

I had a tough time deciding between a 3-2-1 spread (which I rarely use) or a 3-1-1-1. In the end, I decided there wasn't enough of a distinction between the lesser songs to warrant one getting 2, one getting 1, and the rest getting none, so I decided to go with the latter.

Spread:

3 pts. - Mad Buffoon
1 pt. - Strike Battle (BATTLE BGM)
1 pt. - Kyrandia (from Kyrandia 3)
1 pt. - Zombie Guidance Counselor

Nice week!

(2 points) [eM] -eNCHANT arM- Original Soundtrack - The People of London City
(2 points) The Legend of Kyrandia 3 Malcolm's Revenge (PC Game Rip) - Kyrandia
(1 point) Ultima VI: The False Prophet - Bootup
(1 point) Voodoo Vince - Zombie Guidance Counselor

A nomination is to come...

Additional Spam:
* Artist: Falcom Sound Team JDK, Katsutoshi Morizono, Mitsuru Kotaki
* Album/Game Title: The Legend of Xanadu ~ Super Arrange Version
* Track Title: A Bird Crossing the Desert
* Disc Number: 1 (of 1)
* Track Number: 7
* Catalog Number: KICA-1143
* Year: 1994
* Source(s): http://www.gmronline.com/info.asp?CatNumber=KICA-1143

please wait for me to make my final vote. I'll make it in 1 hour

*edit: Done!*

2pt: Ratchet Deadlocked (Game Rip) - Stygia - Energy Collector (8/10)
The problem with me: I'm a fanatic when it comes to militaristic or complex themes; and i'm probably really the only one here. This theme has that power which really makes me attracted to it. The harmony, I admit, does repeat once or twice, but the complex background and left and right channel shifting makes up for that. Good pick.

2pt: Sword Maniac - Mad Buffoon (8/10)
It's something I wouldn't expect from Sakimoto's new brand of music in Final Fantasy XII. The song's opening 7 seconds really bothers me, but I understand that's totally not the point. I really do like the way the instruments end up developing, and it's another of the songs I'd listen to again.

2pt: Mythri (Game Rip) - Strike Battle (BATTLE BGM) (7.5/10)
I'll say up front that I tend to not find chiptunes enjoyable; however, at the same time I really like the Megaman-style brand of chip music. With a decent quality melody that doesn't become annoying, I really am attracted to this theme

Voodoo Vince Original Xbox game music - Zombie Guidance Counselor (7.0/10)
Hehe, it's a nice jazzy theme, which in my opinion, barely misses out on this week. It's also not the type of jazz that I absolutely hate (which is the mindnumbly impossible to understand/free jazz)

Ultima VI The False Prophet (Game Rip) - Bootup (6.5/10)
There's this certain beauty to this song even in it's simplicity. The notes have been done extremely well, but I feel that this song could go longer.

The Legend of Kyrandia (Game Rip) - Castle Dungeon (6.5/10)
I feel that this song is good, but doesn't have the same ability to match up with some of the rest of the songs. I think part of it has to do with the background chord progression, making it seem too simple for me. It's still a pretty good song, and would have been better in another matchup

[eM] -eNCHANT arM- Original Soundtrack - The People of London City (6.5/10)
The recording quality good be better, but that's not something I'd ever take of points for. It's a decent track due to its acoustic guitar, but I kind of thing that the melody does need to be stronger.

The Legend of Kyrandia 3 Malcolm's Revenge (PC Game Rip) - Kyrandia (6.0/10)
I feel that this theme doesn't sound that original. I don't know where, but I'm sure I've heard it in some Donkey Kong game before.

Voting is closed and nominations are restricted!

1). [24] Sword Maniac - Mad Buffoon
2). [15] Ratchet Deadlocked (Game Rip) - Stygia - Energy Collector
3). [13] Voodoo Vince Original Xbox game music - Zombie Guidance Counselor
4). [12] Mythri (Game Rip) - Strike Battle (BATTLE BGM)
5). [11] [eM] -eNCHANT arM- Original Soundtrack - The People of London City
6). [6] The Legend of Kyrandia 3 Malcolm's Revenge (PC Game Rip) - Kyrandia
7). [5] The Legend of Kyrandia (Game Rip) - Castle Dungeon
8). [4] Ultima VI The False Prophet (Game Rip) - Bootup

Awesome week and awesome results.

Why is this happening as of late? Battle 11 is looking sweet.

I figured "Mad Buffoon" would take the gold medal this week.

However, color me surprised by "Zombie Guidance Counselor"'s come from behind finish in third. I thought for certain the Mythri or Ratchet: Deadlocked track would be there instead. Until Friday, Voodoo Vince had barely accumulated more than three or four points. Then suddenly it surged.

Let this be a lesson to everyone: do not discount the voters at STC for even one second. They pushed Voodoo Vince into the winner's circle.

(I feel bad for the Mythri track now. It deserved placement just as much.)

Noooo don't close yet I just got home from work...

Dang. :(

What the? Wow, I thought Mythri was a lock for second.

*checks STC votes*

Oh well.

Hey, my first SotW gold! :)

I probably should have voted, but I liked a lot of the tracks and had a hard time deciding (also I'm lazy). No points for you!

First and second were my top picks anyway, so I'm fine with these results.

What has me laughing a bit is that I liked Mythri and Voodoo Vince equally, but noticed that there'd been a lot more support for Mythri, so I didn't think tossing an extra point to Voodoo Vince would ultimately matter. I didn't want to see it finish in last place, 'tis all.

What a difference one point can make.

Cool, I thought I had a feeling it's popped up somewhere before. I might have to wait to tonight to nominate another song, so if I get skipped over, it's no big deal.

Urgh. I thought this had one more week to go. Sorry for not updating the new nominations in the research page! I was also away on a "business trip" for a bit and couldn't keep track of SotW progress. Work this week didn't help, too. *sigh*

Glad some people actually liked "Boot-up"! That's amazing!!

Is there anyway I can download Week 85's eight songs? While I'm at it, does anyone have the nominations (categorzied by week) from Week 1 to Week 15? I lost songs from those weeks as a result of a hard drive crash. *sobs*