There's no way I'll ever catch up if I try and do these all at once so let me do them in some batches, here.
Day 16. Music from a 16-bit Game. - Castle/Fortress from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
I was highly, highly considering putting this down for Day 17. For reasons that are inexplicable to me, I can listen to this piece of music again and again and again. It's almost hypnotic, in a sense. It doesn't actually transfix me, but I can't tire of it. If you asked me to pick one piece of music to listen to on loop for the rest of my life, I'd have to pick this piece. And the worst part is, I can't even explain why I find it appealing. It just works for me.
Day 17. Music You Never Get Tired Of - Megalovania from Undertale
Look, here's the thing, all memes aside, Megalovania is just a superb piece of music, one with the right mix of energy, drive, and variation to keep you interested and engaged no matter how long you listen to it, or how many variants you hear.
Day 18. Music from a Game Released the Year You Were Born. - Pepsiman Theme - Pepsiman
I almost was going to choose something serious for this one, but I was looking at my options and ended up sucked down a rabbit hole. I can't offer any commentary on this, I really can't... though it's giving me a very strong sense of deja vu for some reason...
Day 19. Cover by a Different Artist - Pollyana from Mother, by Carlos Eine, Adriana Figureroa, and Sab Irene
I... I shot myself in the foot hard, using Octopath Traveler earlier in Hard Mode. Please, please for the love of all that is good, listen to FamilyJules'
covers of the Octopath music. Nonetheless, this is my backup pick. In large part because, well, I never really much gave this song any attention before I found this cover of it. I knew of the song, I had heard it, but this version gripped me in the way the original did not, and, ah, I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a bit biased because I feel myself to be a Pollyana type sometimes. In the end, this messed-up, imperfect, often challenging and frustrating world we live in is a beautiful place, and we're just as much of a mess, but there's something lovely about us, about humanity and what we can do to improve this world and ourselves, too. So, I suppose, for that reason, this cover of this song holds a bit of a special charm for me. Call me a fool, call me Pollyana, but I believe this world does have beauty, and I believe we can strive to make it better than it currently is!
Day 20. Music from a Racing Game. - Don Genie's Theme - F-Zero GX
Raregold tells me it's not a waltz. Anyone with musical knowledge tells me its not a waltz. Google tells me its not a waltz, and so do logic and reason. I know that it's not a waltz, but I'm going to describe the "motion" of this song as a "waltzing" motion nonetheless. I'm a sucker for songs with that kind of "waltzing" motion in the undertone, where I can visualize and old-time, rich couple at a masquerade ball circling each other as they circle around the dance floor like they're the Floating Whirlindas. And those kinds of songs are even better when there's an intense flourish on top of that basic driving rhythm. I can think of a few songs that have
parts like that, but this is the only song I really know that is
entirely built upon that idea.
It's very fitting for a high-class gent like Don Genie, with money to spare and an intense ambition.