In 11th place - Scoring 3 - Froggy’s Lament by Buckner & Garcia - from Frogger?
So I wasn’t really sure how to rank this. Is it an official soundtrack release? No, not really. Pac-Man Fever is more of a concept album based on video games, which… I guess was kinda the best you could hope for for these old 80’s classics. It describes the game well enough, and the frustration of Froggy controlling like shit sometimes. This was my hardest ranking by far, as I usually mark down for category misses, but I think this is close enough that Im judging this based purely on the song. That being said, as a song its… ok I guess? After listening to the rest of the submissions, I just couldn’t justify a higher placement.
In 10th place - Scoring 4 - Icarus main theme by Michael McCann - From Icarus.
I can see how after my intial request for a symphonic video game song, this would stand out as being a great submission, and its… ok. Its hauntingly beautiful for sure, but there is something about it that just doesn’t stick with me overall. It was quickly forgotten, and on relistens it always surprised me as the “Oh yeah, its that Icarus song. I forgot this was on the list.”
In 9th place - Scoring 5 - Castlevania Medley from Play! A video game Symphony Soundtrack - From Castlevania
I wasn’t sure how or where to put this either. It kinda felt like somebody just searched video game symphony music and picked the first link they landed on. Its essentially little snippets of the entirety of the Castlevania soundtrack put into a Medley, which isn’t quite what I was looking for. That being said, much like with Froggy’s Lement, this is close enough that I am ok judging it on its merits, which are… fine. Its a competent mix of Castlevania music in symphony form, but if this were submitted in my original category of all symphonic video game music, it probably would have charted somewhere near the bottom.
Ahhhhhh, ok, I though I recognized the song and had only heard of the new game called Icarus coming out next year. Thought it was strange that the theme had been released before the game, but this makes more sense now.
In 8th place - Scoring 6 - Mick Gordon - The Only Thing They Fear is You - from Doom Eternal
When I first envisioned this category, the soundtracks to the two new Doom games were the first things to come to mind. They are hands down the soundtracks of their respective years for video gaming.
That being said… This is not one of my favorite songs that I have heard from the soundtrack. Its good, don’t get me wrong, and it sets the appropriate mood for the game as a whole, much like the rest of the soundtrack. But this ends up in just ok territory for me.
In 7th place - Scoring 7 - Magic Sword - The Way Home - from Hotline Miami 2
This is an interesting submission. The song is actually quite good, but its one I never found to fit very well for Hotline Miami. The game is SO frenetic, and this song is so mellow, that it just never seemed to be a hit for me. I’m not the biggest fan of your standard electronica, but this is non-offensive overall.
In 6th place - Scoring 8 - Slaves of Fear by Health - From GTA V - Arena Wars
This is a surprisingly deep and fun soundtrack. This song takes a bit to get into it, but when it kicks in at 1:46, its hard not to get pumped and really start to feel the groove. For the arena wars concept, this rocks.
Man we’re moving fast, have any songs been claimed besides Swanky and Pauwl? Still alive so not regretting my choice, I went for the soul read and may have landed it (cue curse!)
In 5th place - Scoring 9 - No Cigar by Millencolin - from Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.
I’m sure once I put up my “What songs would i have submitted” entries, the person who submitted this one thought he (or she! Hi Diver!) was a shoe in, but I did get 4 better entries than this. Great song from a great soundtrack. I always loved when this song came up in the runs. Haven’t bought the remake yet, but I really hope they have this one in the new version.
Yeah, I put together my write-ups before hand. I am still actually contemplating placement on the podium so I am going to take a short break after song 4 to finish my thoughts there. Hopefully we can get some claimaints then.
In 4th place - Scoring 10 - Paper Boats (with lyrics from Ashley Barrett) from Transistor
I really do love when a game soundtrack has some lyrics in their songs. Transistor is another game I haven’t played yet, but this song makes me feel as though I would love it, and I’m likely to check it out soon based solely on this submission. Very nice, and a solid spot just outside of the podium.
Oooh Millencolin, I was just listening to a little of their music the other day, probably in preparation for this walrus. They had a few nice songs but put on maybe the worst concert I ever went to, couldn’t distinguish one song from another.
This was mine and will gladly take 7 points here. I didn’t have much of an idea where to look and had to do some googling. Turns out the hotline miami soundtrack has some pretty cool stuff on it, and I had this track in an EDM playlist of mine.
Looking forward to going through all the other submissions and expanding my horizons a bit more!
