Best Song Contest
From GFWiki
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2003: Origins
The now-annual Best Song Contest began in 2003 in an effort to inspire more people to take an interest in what was seen as a slightly faltering community. Administrator NYRSkate called upon forum-goers to nominate their favorite VGM tracks, and then opened polls for voting (http://www.geocities.com/nyrskate/vote.htm).
This event (known then as "Best Song Of All Time") had major flaws. The biggest of which being that none of the nominated tracks were available for direct download, and thus could not be heard. Also, the voting page was very primitive, being that Kaleb.G used only HTML form controls to create it. Furthermore, discussion was limited to only a couple threads. And as the final nail in the coffin, the contest never truly ended, since interest dropped off after reaching the Quarterfinals.
2004: Redux
In 2004, Skate completely revised his event. People were allowed to list their top 10 nominations out of all VGM, and Skate with the help of some other staff tallied the votes, placing the tracks that received the most votes into the contest. (tie-breaker rounds were also included in order to reach the 255 nominations to complete the brackets.)
The contest seemed to go off rather well, and although there was some dissatisfaction expressed by members over the final few rounds, everyone seemed to be in agreement that the contest had been a success overall.
One-Winged Hutt
One of the more interesting facets of the 2004 contest was the first round pairing of Final Fantasy VII's One Winged Angel against the Hut Hut Hut Hut Hut sound effect from Tecmo Bowl. Fueled by a couple of remixes made by falkon2 and bobo, a song that essentially wasn't a song at all beat the number one seed in the contest. This was pretty much a result of a large group of people feeling the song was overrated, but all in all was more of a joke than anything else.
Related Songs:
- The Original Hut Hut (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/GFFWiki/Hotobu_HutHutHut.mp3) by Hotobu
- One Winged Hutt (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/GFFWiki/Falkon2_OneWingedHutt.mp3) by falkon2
- Bye Bye Hut (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/GFFWiki/Bobo_ByeByeHut.mp3) by bobo
- Can't Hut This (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/GFFWiki/Bobo_CantHutThis.mp3) by bobo
Winners and Top 16
Winner
Chrono Trigger - To Far Away Times
Runner-Up
Metal Gear Solid 2 - Metal Gear Solid Main Theme
Top 16
- Chrono Trigger - To Far Away Times
- Metal Gear Solid 2 - Metal Gear Solid Main Theme
- ActRaiser - Fillmore
- Aka - To The West
- Android Assault - Bay Side City
- Beyond Good and Evil - Home Theme
- Beyond Good and Evil - Hyllian Suite
- Castlevania II - Bloody Tears
- Castlevania: Lament of Innocence - House of Sacred Remains
- Chrono Cross - Radical Dreamers ~Without Taking the Jewel~
- Chrono Cross - Time of the Dreamwatch
- Ico - Castle In the Mist
- Katamari Damacy - Lonely Rolling Star
- Neorude II - Last Battle
- SaGa Frontier II - Ruckerinnerung
- Super Smash Bros. Melee - Fountain of Dreams
- Vagrant Story - Staff Roll
2005: Drama
In 2005, the contest began reasonably enough, nominations and tie-breakers running smoothly, but as the rounds progressed it became clear that factions were dividing among the voters, causing intermittent fights to break out within the voting threads. Emotions came to a head when the divided camps (or rather, what everyone perceived to be the divided camps) were defined as ORCHESTRATIN' and OLD SCHOOLIN' respectively. Some members believed that the only reason certain tracks were advancing was because of the quality of their instruments, and other members believed some tracks were only advancing because of a certain nostalgic quality attached to them. Similar fights broke out between ORCHESTRATIN' and ROCKIN' camps concerning the type of instruments used.
Most of the participation in 2005's event was openly bitter or recalcitrant, and many issues among the members were never fully resolved upon the contest's completion.
Notable participants in the arguments for musical superiority included: Skexis, GoldfishX, Merv_Burger, PiccoloNamek, and Cal.
Winners and Top 16
Winner
Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~Ending Theme~
Top 16
- Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~Ending Theme~
- ActRaiser - Fillmore
- Aka - To The West
- Android Assault - Bay Side City
- Beyond Good and Evil - Home Theme
- Beyond Good and Evil - Hyllian Suite
- Castlevania II - Bloody Tears
- Castlevania: Lament of Innocence - House of Sacred Remains
- Chrono Cross - Radical Dreamers ~Without Taking the Jewel~
- Chrono Cross - Time of the Dreamwatch
- Ico - Castle In the Mist
- Katamari Damacy - Lonely Rolling Star
- Neorude II - Last Battle
- SaGa Frontier II - Ruckerinnerung
- Super Smash Bros. Melee - Fountain of Dreams
- Vagrant Story - Staff Roll
2006: Exit Skate
In May 2006, Skate opened nominations for the Best Song Contest 2006. Nominations closed on June 4th, but the contest was delayed due to Skate's sudden disappearance from GFF. The community eventually rallied and proceeded with the contest sans Skate, with several members helping to gather songs, tag them, create threads, and more. As a result, BSC '06 was a success despite its architect's absence.
Winners and Top 16
Winner
Soukaigi — Fire Wire
Runner-up
Suikoden V — Wind of Phantom
Top 16
- Soukaigi — Fire Wire
- Suikoden V — Wind of Phantom
- Ace Combat 5 The Unsung War — The Unsung War
- Ace Combat Zero — Zero
- Albert Odyssey — The Airship
- Castlevania: Curse of Darkness — Baljhet Mountains
- Jets 'n' Guns — Shop Music
- Legend of Mana — Earth Painting
- Phantasy Star Online episode III C.A.R.D. Revolution — IDOLA The Strange Fruits
- Shadow Hearts 2 — The Fate
- Sim City 4 — By The Bay
- Tales of Legendia — Enemy Attack
- Tales of the Abyss — The Arrow Was Shot
- Viewtiful Joe 2 — Ice Edge (The Polar Movie Land Theme)
- Wild Arms — Morning Journey
- Wild Arms 4 — Nightless City Guara Bobelo
2007: The New GFF
Dr. Uzuki took the lead in getting the 2007 contest underway, and nominating took place throughout April and May 2007 despite the instability and rebirth of GFF. Several other members volunteered to help out, giving the contest a greater degree of community input. Hosting at the new domain remained a problem.
MERLON
In the final rounds, controversy arose over whether there had been vote rigging in a close contest which saw a late surge of support for one of the tracks. In the end, the track with the surge was disqualified, but not before some spirited debate over the nature of the vote and the spirit of the contest.
Winners and Top 16
Winner
Wild Arms 5 - The Road to Tomorrow Follows Behind You
Runner-Up
Wild Arms Alter Code F - Puzzle
Top 16
- Wild Arms 5 - The Road to Tomorrow Follows Behind You
- Wild Arms Alter Code F - Puzzle
- Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War - MERLON
- Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia - EXEC_LINCA/
- Cave Story - Labyrinth Fight
- Deus Ex - The Synapse (Hong Kong Streets)
- Donkey Kong Country - Fear Factory
- God Hand - Sunset Heroes
- Grandia 2 - FIGHT!! Version 4 ~ The Final Battle
- Legaia 2: Duel Saga - Lost Forest
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon - Sky Tower (15th Dungeon)
- Radiant Silvergun (Saturn) - Penta
- Ragnarok Online 2 - Din Don Dan Dan Non Monstr
- SimCity 4 - Oasis
- Valkyrie Profile - Mission to the Deep Space
- Wild Arms - Into the Wilderness
Spin-offs
In fall of 2004, Skate held another contest called the Best RPG Battle Track Contest. This contest progessed through several rounds but ultimately stalled.
In early 2005, Skate held the Best Mega Man Song contest, which was seen through to completion.
Later on in 2005, Skate opened nominations for yet another battle track contest, but this never came to fruition, mostly due to hardship in Skate's personal life at the time.
Skate proposed to start the battle track contest again in early 2006, but due to conflicts with Song of the Year, as well as an impending board crash, this dropped out of the picture. It has been postponed indefinitely.
In late 2006 and early 2007, the Best Chiptune Contest was launched, the first such spin-off created without Skate's involvement at any stage. Participation was high and discussion was spirited.
The Super Audio Universal Showdown, while not technically a spinoff, nevertheless ran during the summer of 2007 alongside the BSC. The event attracted spirited posting, though participation lagged in the end.
A year later, a Best Doujin Contest was attempted. Though interrupted by a board crash, the 2007-08 event was seen to its conclusion, despite technical mishaps and managerial incompetence. Participation was low, however, and discussion lagged.
A pattern of "off-season" contests seems to be developing, with a more specialized contest being held in the winter before the larger summer event. These smaller events have served as testing grounds for new ideas which may be incorporated into the main BSC.
