Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

Artist Name: Azina As far as arrangements go, this begins with only small shifts. Fae-like playful piano accents electric guitar performing the harmonic structure typically played on piano. This continues until the second loop where a heartbeat rhythm is established in the low end, and choir-esk vocals underpin the now gently distorted main melody. The piece ends with a demure "victory theme" of my own making. Games & Sources The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toru_Minegishi Link to the composer; apparently he's the one who composed the gamecube startup sound. Oh, it just embeds here, I didn't think it would do that

With Michael, you learn to trust the process. Interesting and immersive sound design experimentation per his usual, that's a given. Nice mileage out of these minimal themes; how you sonically beefed them up AND built around them was impressive. :-) YES

Pretty crunchy original dnb writing to start. Oh, bummer, at :57, it's the beginning of snippets of the source audio itself being used, then it's fully brought in on top of the beats from 1:29-2:14. It'll sound like I'm saying we dislike the track when it's a fun remix (proph means it's not an arrangement). We're called OverClocked ReMix (capital R, capital M) as more of a brand name that sounded cooler than "arrangements", so people interchangably call things "remixes" here when that's not what we're actually doing. I'm sorry to say in this case here though, Stavrin, we're *not* a traditional remixing site, we're an arrangement site, as in the source material is played back or performed on different instrumentation, not directly sampled and not just note-for-note. This falls outside of our Submission Standards, but it's still an enjoyable remix for sure! If you'd want to learn more about making VGM arrangements, join our Discord and/or use our Workshop forum resources. NO Override

Cool cover, Jonathon, and thank you for sending it our way. :-) I appreciate you running down the various instrumentation aspects involved, which was very creative to use here. prophetik's right that, although this is a brilliant cover, this is essentially a find-replace of the source's part-writing with your (strong) sounds there's no structural difference with this version vs. the original, including just hitting the loop point at :53 and repeating the same stuff for 2 more loops. We're looking for substantial interpretive and transformative aspects of arrangement, even if an arrangement is otherwise melodically conservative. In the writeup for this ReMix, I link 10 other examples of melodically conservative yet overall transformative arrangements we've posted https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR04414. If you're ever interested in fleshing out a more developed, evolving arrangement, your instrumentation and mixing already sounded very solid! Join our Discord and/or use our Workshop forum resources if you're not against taking that kind of journey. NO

Whenever I vote, I like to pretend/assume that there's absolutely no way the track can be revised, because it forces you to decide if it's above the line or not, rather than judging it on what you think the track's potential is after a revision. I agreed with Chimpazilla on the sax mixing not feeling as integrated in the soundscape. That said, it's not something that stuck out to me without it being pointed out by her first, and I can also totally live with this. Performance sounds great for our bar, not just the sax, everything else too; though the higher notes on the piano clearly expose the sample's limitations, the piano and upright bass overall sound good as well, this completely clicks for me. When I heard this on The NO Show, I qualified things by mentioning that I'd need to hear this on my setup, as it was possible the mixing issues would stand out more; just off of that listen, it was sounding like a YES to me. Now that I hear it for myself on my headphones, this is lovely, lovely, intimate smoky jazz. Great weaving of the source themes, hugely personalized. IMO proph's higher-level sax skillz make performance flaws stand out more for him than the average bear, making him too tough on it, especially because the arrangement's very substantive, which we both agree to. This isn't HonkSax™ and this overall execution isn't anywhere below our hobbyist bar. Hyperbolic for a reason, because I'll come off like I'm browbeating Brad or flipping a table. 100 out of 100 times -- not 99 out of 100 -- something like this should be approved or it means our collective bar needs recalibration for being too tough. Are we gonna mess this up? :-P Pipko, April, Lampie, kudos! :-) YES

The claps in the intro were wearing thin, so I'm glad they bowed out. JSABlixer's take in the NO Show chat was accurate for me; the first half was interesting, yet the second half didn't keep me hooked and ran out of steam. proph felt the sampled vocal integrations were solid, though they felt more stapled on top for me. The drums, which were solid samples, eventually felt like they were mostly on auto-pilot of just changing every few measures at cutoffs that just seem too squeaky clean; nothing feels organic/human about the part-writing, it's feel very gridded out, like OK a few bars of this, then change the entire patten a few bars later; I wish I could better articulate that, but I do hope you'll ask around about it. The second iteration of the melody could use more distinct variation or difference from the first besides the lead sound. The piece's overall tone doesn't distinctly stand apart from the original enough; it's not non-existent, but it's not enough. Right now, this is more about the additive part-writing, which isn't a comparatively distinct enough presentation from the original. There's definitely a place for an approach like this, as H36T has shown several times with other ReMixes; this needs more something/anything substantive/different. I'm open to whatever direction you might be willing to take this in, if interested. NO (resubmit)

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Original Decision RESUB 1 Artist Name: Seth Skoda Based on an online argument about genres not making a difference. I previously turned Death Egg Zone's music (also from Sonic & Knuckles) into a trap-ish beat just to prove the point, and it got a lot of attention. So... I started going in on other tunes. I zeroed in on Flying Battery Zone a little more, as that's my favorite tune from the game. Found the good future remix on VGmusic.com, thought it would be cool to include a little bit of it in my mix. The section starting at 1:22 and ending at 1:49 contains the counter melody and 8 bars of the backing from the good future remix. I hope this isn't a deal breaker, as it's otherwise my own derivative work. Was gonna mostly go EDM with some synthwave, but then I messed around with some 808 bass and it turned into much of the same modern hip-hop sound that I was using at the time. This final mix shows a little bit more of the original intent than previous mixdowns with the 80s drums and synths running alongside the more modern 808 kicks and hihats. I am very satisfied with how this turned out, and I hope it finds its way into many playlists of Sonic Music/VGM remixes. All that being said about the mix itself, I discovered this website in the mid 2000s and knew that one day I'd have what it takes to get a posted ReMix of my own on this site. This is my third time trying to get High Voltage posted; hopefully it's the charm. Games & Sources Sonic & Knuckles - Flying Battery Zone Act 2 Composer: Howard Drossin

I'm just commenting on the revised version. It's not an apples-to-apple comparison, but I was wrong about "Hunter's Community Chest" way back and I'm not gonna make the same mistake twice. Obviously, this has more energy and dynamics to it, particularly for the 2:39 section, yet this is also a fairly low-key presentation most of the way. The time sig change and deliberate pacing were very effective, and I love the instrumentation throughout with these amazing textures. Such a smart treatment of the source, this is excellent, Brad! :-) YES

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Very beautiful intro; this is going to be a nice interpretation, you can tell off the bat with this swung feeling to the rhythm. Cool stops of the swing at 1:25 & 1:36 for nice bits of contrast, then sounding a measure more forceful at 1:48. Smooth transition at 1:56 in the brief pivot to "Ceremony of the Gods", and then another seamless shift to "An Irrevocable Past" at 2:56. Love the delicate and measured yet personalized piano approach, Guillaume, you make it sound effortless. :-) YES

Artist Name: Bluelighter Hi OCR, Here is a piano arrangement of some themes of ff9, composed by Nobuo UEMATSU. Theme of “Terra” was a lot declined in the game, but Terra’s version is certainly my favorite version. Uematsu managed to put a lot of emotion in this one with a minimalist instrumentation. I could play the zone in loop just to listen this melody when I played the game. So, this arrangement is mainly based on Terra. I used also the introduction of “An Irrevocable Past”, the same theme with additional ingredients. Finally I took from “Ceremony of the Gods” whose melody in fourths call back “An Irrevocable Past” About the arrangement, I’ve a little reviewed harmony of Terra’s theme. But I’ve kept haunting atmosphere with a repetitive and sad rhythm. At the middle, the arrangement wins in intensity, with introduction of “Ceremony” and “Irrevocable Past”. The melody here has religious sonorities IMO. The culminating point of Terra comes after. And the arrangement concludes by “An Irrevocable Past”. Enjoy! Guillaume Breakdown Part 1: 0'00 ("Terra" 0’00 -> 0’07) -> arpeggio Part 2: ("Terra" 0’07 -> 0’57) -> rhythm A) 0'10 B) 0’40 Part 3: A) 1’07 ("Terra" 0’57 -> 1’15) B) 1’25 ("Terra" 0’07 -> 0’57) arpeggio C) 1’47 ("Terra" 0’57 -> 1’15) Part 6: animated A) 2’03 (“Ceremony of Gods” 0’20 -> 0’55, winks to “An Irrevocable Past” 0’00 -> 0’12) B) 2’15 (“Ceremony of Gods” 0’20 -> 0’55) Part 7: 2’28 ("Terra" 1’15 -> 1’45) culminating point of the piece Part 8: (“An Irrevocable Past” 0’00 -> 0’12) A) 2’56 (animated) B) 3’07 (soft) C) 3’17 (main rhythm to conclude) Games & Sources Real Name: Guillaume SAUMANDE Game & Songs: ff9 & Terra, Ceremony for the Gods, An Irrevocable Past Composer: Nobuo UEMATSU

Man, this source is awesome, thanks for introducing me to it! Really well-produced original. Not sure why the arrangement doesn't have a unique name, but it merits giving it one. I get what you're saying about still working on production. As soon as the drums come in at :30, they noticeably lack oomph and verve compared to the original. It'll seem like I'm saying that meeting or exceeding the original's production is our bar, I'm just noting the quality disparity where there's an underwhelming emptiness to them. The stilted, stiff machine gun timing of the drum programming prevents the soundscape from sounding cohesive the whole time. The drums sound like a placeholder rather than an intended final product, and even if they were played in live via keyboard, they still don't feel humanized. Minor and very subtle, but around 1:09-1:11, it sounded like the volume ducked a few times; not sure what may have happened there. Everything lacks high-end clarity, and the vocals aren't fully cutting through to the foreground during the denser sections, whether that's Gregorio or EK. Gregorio's vocal performance is awesome. EK's vocals feel too exposed/untreated when they first arrive; I know nothing about anything, but I imagine there's a way to produce them with a fuller and steadier sound; the chorus at 1:26 sounds stronger in terms of the singing, but it's mixed in a way like it's just in the way of and subordinate to the guitar chugs, which doesn't make sense to me. On my headphones, during the densest sections, nothing takes the lead and nothing sounds distinct. The chorus from 2:41-3:18 is probably the most illustrative example. 3:37-3:55 sounds comparatively better when it's just Gregorio; his voice has more clarity and seems mixed to the front. The chorusing on EK's vocals from 4:14-4:32 sounds so much more stylized and unique, they just needed more airyness/delay, something to thicken them up. The big finish section from 5:03-5:46 was very, very cramped. I've qualified in the past where I've said if an otherwise strong arrangement were mixed/produced in a non-optimal way, I could look past it; this is a case where even a fully cohesive arrangement would still, IMO, get held back on account of the production. My biggest fear is that, as a non-musician, I'm not able to better articulate these issues or directly speak to how to address them, so my criticisms will feel like a discouraging dogpile, when to me this has a ton of potential. There's a more cohesively mixed track underneath here for sure, Zach, but the mixing's currently mud. Reworking the drums and production of this one seems like it could be a really rewarding growth opportunity and a chance to learn from experienced producers, because there's a behemoth track waiting to break out. It's a great base, but not yet fully baked. NO (resubmit)

Artist Name: Zach Chapman Features Earth Kid on lead vocals, Gregorio Franco (who doesn't have an artist page on OCR yet) doing the harsh vocals, themanpf on guitars, and jnWake (also no artist page) on synths and keys. This song was made for Dwelling of Duels' April 2025 Rhythm Games Month. Originally this track was going to be even more faithful to the original, but I only know one female singer who can also do great harsh vocals and she was too busy that month to collab, so instead I split the vocals up between the leads and the growls, landing on Earth Kid and Gregorio for each, who are both fantastic. The other shift in the song's direction came mostly from jnWake, who took the keyboard parts I sent him and added several synths without ever being asked. Anytime you hear a synth in the song - echoing the intro riff, in the background of the interlude, the synth solo before the third chorus - is all stuff that he did entirely himself. That helped to give the track its own identity, and I love what it added to the song. TheManPF killed it on guitars as always, and also put up with me sending him about 20 different drafts of the mix for feedback over the course of the month, as I'm still pretty awful at the production side of things. Other than that it's a largely faithful cover, with some minor changes to riffing and the bass (which I played) to make it more interesting. Games & Sources This is a cover of "Stygia" from the rhythm shooter Metal: Hellsinger, composed and performed by Two Feathers, the developers of the game, featuring Alissa White-Gluz, the lead singer of the metal band Arch Enemy

Starts with a fully original intro that has a nice sparkle to it. Zeal melody arrives at :40 with some basic but impactful beats with it for a nice, full sound. I liked the gated vox line and padding as well. Shift at 1:38 to some overdriven, distorted kicks that feel like a stylistic thing I'll have to get over; they lasted until 2:16 (back at 2:57). Very lush textural changeup at 2:16, great choice for the lead synth. As the added beat were in play until 2:56, I liked how much space the track had to breathe, and it made the dynamics of the instrumentation changes more effective. 2:57 brought back the beats and added an original countermelodic synth line and a gated-style supporting line until 3:33. Not as much contrast/dynamic as I would have liked, but just a personal taste thing, and the relative additional complexity's dult noted, though I could imagine other judges complaining. I would have liked to have heard more dynamic evolution of the track from 2:57-on, because the continued build was very subtle and thus feeling on the vanilla, repetitive side. That said the overall transformation of the Zeal theme to this light dNb style works nicely. Definitely leaning towards what works more than getting hung up on what other potential twists or added sophistications there could have been. Nice job, Nobel, this was a cool concept. :-) YES

Artist Name: Nobel Yoo Unfortunately, some parts of the original project file were lost so I wasn't able to re-export it for this submission. Sorry! I was struck with the thought for a drum and bass version of the Corridors of Time track after hearing it a bunch at Magfest. I was really excited by the allure of turning what's typical a pretty slow and somber song into something fast-paced and energetic. It turned out that the original song is a little too fast for an easy conversion to drum and bass. The original song is 117 BPM. I slowed down all the parts from the original song down to 100 BPM so that I could use it for a drum and bass track at 200 BPM, but that's still much faster than the typical 184 BPM that most rum and bass tracks run at, so it actually feels even faster! I really enjoyed juxtaposing instrumental/acoustic sounds with electronic sounds on this piece as well as adding some new melodies and harmonies. Hope you enjoy! Games & Sources Chrono Trigger - Corridors of Time Composed by Yasunori Mitsuda

Glad to see this back again. Opens up with a nice fade-in of strings and cool sampled female vocal line. Whoa, woodwind at :32 isn't winning any realism contests, for sure. :-D It's serviceable, but it did jar me to start. Nice addition of the low pizz strings and male vox at 1:01 behind the lead. Piano accents sounded fake, but quiet enough to not stand out too much and were tastefully produced. This is so reminiscent of my first vote nearly 21 years ago when I NOed Koelsch1 for the same kind of thing going on with his woodwind lead, though his got shrill and had some trills that majorly exposed the samples. Brass at 1:46 was also fairly anemic, but became a little more forceful not too long after coming in. Nice lil' percussive thump as a transition to the organ and vox padding up the texture after 2:13. Nice countermelodic writing going on with the brass underneath the woodwind for a stronger finish. It's not humanized-enough sequencing, so any uncanny valley criticisms are valid, but for a mockup, which is where I believe our hobbyist bar is, this is alright. If this doesn't make it as is, it's not because of the structure or arrangement, which are already well personalized and dynamic, it's for the production. This is solid enough though, I'm not being smacked in the face with any terrible-sounding samples, just cognizant enough at the fact that it could be better humanized. All that said, the instrumentation choices, particularly in tandem, demonstrated a lot of care and intention, and the execution's cohesive enough! Good job, Eric; I know you'll stay with this and improve it further if this doesn't make it, you've got the sticktuitiveness we wish everyone had. :-) YES

Thank you for laying out the source tune order, Gregorio. Been a fan of this OST since hearing Beatdrop's ReMix of the first stage! Right from the intro, it has an intense sound, though it feels like the soundscape's lossy and crowded; what I'm mainly hearing is the countermelodic backing parts and then the lead synth's upfront, albeit quiet. The drums are great when I concentrate on hearing them. Not ideal mixing when the guitar chugs are drowning a lot of other parts out, but I can make out stuff enough where I feel it gets by. Nice transition at 1:42. When lots of elements dropped out and the texture was emptier from 1:42-1:57 as a contrast, things didn't sound cramped. I haven't read the other votes yet, but I hope I'm not the only one pointing this out. At 2:24, the transition was sudden but seemed to flow smoothly from the previous theme. The melodic synth was a lot louder and more upfront as the lead, which made me wonder why the balance of parts felt so off in the opening verse for the stage 1 theme. 3:09's theme change basically had no transition, which was disappointing. Another sudden theme change at 3:52 and the medley-itis charges feel more and more valid as this moves along. There was at least a quick transition at 4:37, but very minimal and still a big break in the flow. Whatever those snap sounds were from 4:37-4:51 were too loud yet lossy-sounding, just really coming through too loudly in my headphones. The mixing isn't ideal and does meaningfully ding it -- it's arguably causing ear fatigue from just making this so loud yet cramped most of the time -- but I'd still pass an otherwise-cohesive arrangement mixed like this. It already got invoked before, but I'll quote the Submission Standards again: Here's how I felt about the transitions: 0:00-1:42 - "Solo Sortie" smooth transition 1:43-2:23 - "Counterattack '91" smooth transition 2:24-3:08 - "As Wet As a Fish" abrupt transition 3:09-3:52 - "A Submerging Titan" abrupt transition 3:53-4:37 - "Dream of a Labyrinth" abrupt transition 4:38-5:54 - "Return of the Creature" smooth transition 5:55-6:12 - "To the Next Zone" In other words, 3 smooth theme changes, 3 abrupt ones. We don't require 6 smooth, developed theme changes for a pass. I'm just summarizing how a fair amount of the track felt like a basic medley structure without enough flow in the theme changes to make the overall composition feel cohesive enough. Indeed, this is a well-performed and sequenced rock adaptation of several Super R-Type themes, but it's not presented as a cohesive & uniform enough musical concept where it doesn't primarily feel like 7 (amazingly amped up) covers stitched together without enough flow from theme to theme. I definitely appreciate you submitting this, Gregorio, with this intensity and great soundtrack choice. I'm a NO for this fitting our arrangement Standards as is; if there was openness to fleshing out the transitions between themes, I'd love to hear this resubmitted. It'll sound like we don't want any medleys, when in fact we've got a ton of medleys on OCR, but there's more intention to making the overall track feel like one cohesive, developing, evolving idea rather than jumping quickly from theme to theme. Whether it's with this piece again or another arrangement, I hope you'll keep submitting more of what you're creating, you definitely have a spot waiting. :-) NO (resubmit)

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Main source melody for "Reset" arrives at :20 with a lot of personality behind the sequenced guitar, thanks to the supplement of the measured bassline. Beats at :41 didn't feel like the right fit on account of feeling too dry, but the texture got fuller at 1:12 to help mitigate the realism issues. Good dropoff at 1:45. The sequenced bowed strings from 1:18-1:44 were in the uncanny valley although it was a decent, recognizable sample. The beats did drag on by the 2-minute mark and needed more dynamic contrast. As a personal highlight, I loved GotW taking over as lead at 3:23 with his beautiful restating of the melody, including the interplay with the sequenced acoustic guitar which had VERY classy flourishes at 3:35. It may be underselling some different part-writing, but the beats felt relatively underdeveloped or lacking variations. Everything else though was clicking, so consider me on board with this arrangement! YES

Artist Name: Bionic Leaves Synth-wavy sounds with an early nineties amen breakbeat. I thought it fit the melancholy of the melody well. Games & Sources The Guardian Legend (Compile, 1988) Composer: Miyamo Shant (Masatomo Miyamoto & Takeshi Santo)

Artist Name: Tremendouz First of all, huge thanks to Gamer of the Winds ( https://ocremix.org/artist/16615/gamer-of-the-winds ) for recording the flute part. "Reset" from Ōkami has a special place in my heart, as does the whole game and its OST. For this arrangement, I decided to use the vocal version playing during the credits of the original PS2 release as the main bones and inspiration while incorporating some elements from the orchestral "Thank You" version—namely the harp, as well as the intro and outro structure. In addition to these, you can hear a nod to "Once Upon A Time..." from Ōkamiden in the synth melody at 1:45, and to "Ryoshima Coast" from Ōkami at 2:15. The style I went for is quite electronic in nature (synth bass and leads, drum machine, overall quantized feel) but also uses some more traditional instruments as well, although in virtual form: acoustic and nylon guitar, harp, string ensemble, Rhodes electric piano and grand piano. As usual, everything is programmed in the piano roll. The two versions of Reset differ somewhat in their chord progression and since I lifted the harp pretty directly from the orchestral version, I didn't stick too closely to the vocal version in this regard. All in all, I combined a bunch of my favourite elements from both versions into a mix that's attempting to be both laid back and puncy at the same time. Ilya Efimov Acoustic guitar does the heavy lifting in terms of the lead melody and solos, the latter of which are mostly pretty straight transcriptions from the vocal version (minus the last one at 4:12-4:24). Scarbee Classic EP-88S fills the midrange with a familiar stereo Rhodes sound, while Samantha Ballard Harp adds some much needed plucky, organic quality and texture. Tokyo Scoring Strings from Impact Soundworks fills the background during the choruses, although my string programming here was rather rudimentary due to their somewhat buried nature in the mix, as well my own laziness. If I had to pick my favourite detail from the arrangement (aside from Gregory's fantastic flute playing), it would be how I took the acoustic guitar rhythm element from 3:24-3:44 (before the last chorus) which was already present in the source, and recalled it in the first half of the outro (4:39-4:52). I think it worked pretty seamlessly there even if I say so myself. The name of the arrangement refers to the credits scene where Amaterasu (ya big furball!) walks in front of a backdrop consisting of scenes from the rather lengthy journey that the game is. Edited Saturday at 03:10 PM by Tremendouz Games & Sources 1. Okami - Reset https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeyK_gmd8Ik VGMDB credits the following artists: - Lyrics: TAK&BABY - Composer: JUN - Arranger: Yoshinobu Takeshita - Vocal: Ayaka Hirahara (dreamusic) 2. Okami - Reset (Thank You) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRx9gnY0Mp0 composed by Hiroshi Yamaguchi 3. Okamiden - Once Upon a Time... (minor nod only) https://youtu.be/bVyBr0L7DaE?feature=shared composed by Rei Kondoh 4. Okami - Ryoshima Coast (minor nod only) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztlng1aSnGU composed by Hiroshi Yamaguchi

The Bloodstained source sounds like a more militarized run-and-gun version of Castlevania, so that was interesting. Not a surprise to hear TBR slow this down. Texture sounds nice and full at :28 with the melody coming in. This feels like the result if you'd asked goat to arrange this, which means it rocks. Once it gets going at :37, experienced OCR listeners will hear what I mean when I say it reminds me of "Stained Glass Filth". Mixing-wise though, it's comparatively more cramped. :-) It's nothing even dinging the track, because the primary elements are mixed well, but you have supporting writing like the lil' belltone stuff doubling the melody at times (e.g. 1:34-2:02), and it's so utterly buried, smothered, and covered that it might as well be taken out. It adds a tiny bit of color, and is a genuinely worthwhile part that would sound great if audible, but if you're not listening on decent enough headphones, you won't hear it. Brilliant changeup at 4:05 with the acoustic-led section; would have loved to have heard more like this just because of how stylish it was, and certainly not a material criticism that this style wasn't present enough. What a smart bit of contrast! Amazing stuff as usual from thebitterroost, who shouldn't be slept on as top-tier metal artist in this scene. I'd love to hear him on some game scores, this is dense and intense! YES

Very cool intro; great beach/water SFX, then the gradual fade-in of the source elements. Awesome sound design in the first :45 seconds. Oh nice, some voice sampling, followed by in-game SFX. 90 seconds in, this is solid. Some cool stuff going on at 1:35 for a build-up, then the melody arrives at 1:56. Here, the countermelody and beats are creating clutter, IMO, though it's nothing dealbreaking for the moment. At 2:28, more parts came in that gave the melody support and the track more overall direction. Good textural change at 3:05 to clean up the soundscape and hit the chippy sounds for some contrast. Nice lead and breathier supporting writing from 3:22-3:33 for the chorus. Then some more wilder synth writing underneath that was potentially pushing it into a cacophonous direction, but thankfully things didn't get too busy. The lead at 4:13-4:34 was arguably too quiet compared to all of the other writing around it, but I could still make it out well enough. Nice SFX bookend to the piece at 4:34. I felt like this had a lot of dynamic similarities to VQ's Lufia II project track. Whereas the first version of that was overstuffed, too busy, and had a lot of clashing elements, this piece was a lot more like the second pass of the Lufia track, where there was more structure, the textures were thinned out and had room to breath, there were constantly effective moments of contrast, and the writing didn't veer off into non-melodious stuff that was detracting and distracting from the overall direction. What genre do we call it? I dunno either. :-P Very stylish! YES

Glad to also see some of your VGM COM set this year, Daniel! The fun easily shines through here with these spirited performances! Short and sweet vote with how straightforward this call is. YES