VGM Guessing Contest #3!!! | Results

jaf · Postby **jaf** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 4:08 pm

tl;dr: Read the bold parts.

The first quiz was hosted in July by sancles-chan and the second quiz was hosted in November by cato. It hasn't been that long, but I'm done putting together songs so whatever. Time for the third quiz!

This time you can alternatively listen to the 50 songs as one medley on Youtube instead of downloading them in a zip file. By popular demand I also made a zip file where you can listen to them separately. Choose the method you prefer.

How to guess:
Watch the video to hear a medley containing 50 video game songs, or download the file to listen to them separately. Each song will play for about 20-30 seconds. All you have to do is write down the name of the game you have to pop in to hear that song. If the song is a remix of another song, be sure to write down the name of the game with which this particular arrangement can be heard. Note that you don't necessarily need the game where this song appeared for the first time, as long as your guess features the same arrangement.

Point Distributions:
+1 If you guessed the correct franchise, or for similarly close guesses
+2 if you guess the correct game
x2 if you are the only one to guess the franchise/the game
NEW: Additional points for streaks (see below)

STREAK BONUS:
There will be bonus points for getting 4 and more correct game guesses in a row. If you get 4 songs in a row, you will get 3 extra points. After that, you will get +3 instead of +2 for every following song in the streak. Example:

Song 1 - 3: (Correct guess) +2
Song 4: (Correct guess) +5 Streak Bonus
Song 5 - 7: (Correct guess) +3
Song 8: (Wrong guess) +0 End of Streak

Even if many of the songs are easy, maintaining a streak of 4 or longer is not. This addition should make the game more exciting for people who are very good at guessing. Challenge yourselves to get as many streaks as possible!

Important rules and differences from last time:
-There are no intruders this time. If a song is a remix of a non-video game song, it will still be an arrangement that appears in a video game.
-I will not be giving private hints.
-Songs will often start somewhere in the middle instead of in the beginning. This in particular will make looking through playlists to verify where a song is from a pain, so instead, if you're unsure, just go with your gut. There's no penalty for guessing wrong after all.
-As in the second quiz, there is a healthy mix of easy and hard songs. You can roughly estimate the difficulty of a song by the last digit of the song number. Songs that end with the digits 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are somewhat easy and your best chance to get a streak bonus. 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0 on the other hand are relatively difficult.
-I did not enforce the "1 song per series" rule of the last contest, but it is still mostly true.

How to participate:
Anyone can join. Simply write me a PM here on the forums with a list of your guesses before the deadline arrives (or send it on Discord to Jafistndodel#4587). You can change your submission as many times as you want before the deadline, so don't be afraid to hand it in early so you don't forget later.

Prices:
The winner gets bragging rights, as well as the right to create and host the next competition. Of course, if the winner doesn't feel like hosting it, he can give that right to the user in 2nd place instead. Don't be afraid to join this tournament just for fun.

When's the deadline?
The deadline will be on January 15th 2020. The results will be released shortly after.

So far, I've received guesses from:
-ShadowStarX
-cato
-DrMekar
-MECHDRAGON777
-8lue Storm
-HenryRichard

If there are any questions you can ask in this thread or per PM. May the best video game music master win!

Watch on Youtube:

...Or download a zip file containing the 50 songs as separate mp3 files:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/epmqn0f745adl ... 3.zip?dl=0
OR
http://www.mediafire.com/file/n2m1l9rb4 ... 3.zip/file

Valentine · Postby **Valentine** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 5:12 pm

Personally I prefer the zip file format because it's easier to sift through the songs without having to look at the whole video.
If you could add timestamps that'd be nice

jaf · Postby **jaf** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 6:16 pm

Sancles-Chan wrote: ↑
Sat Dec 21, 2019 5:12 pm
Personally I prefer the zip file format because it's easier to sift through the songs without having to look at the whole video.
If you could add timestamps that'd be nice

Fair point. I realize this format has its pros and cons.

I added time stamps in the video description.

Emral · Postby **Emral** » Sun Dec 22, 2019 7:03 am

I might try it if i can download each song separately as part of a zip archive.

cato · Postby **cato** » Sun Dec 22, 2019 9:18 am

Not complaining, but the purpose of every music contest is always to same. Instead of focusing on the score you obtained, it is better to broaden our horizons for our knowledge of great games existed. Like a clear separation between games with series and independent, award-winning games. No one guessed MGQ/Papers, Please last contest, but is there anyone who knows how great the games are? ( I am still mad that not all of you guess that SMBX outro song )

For this one, as Jaf stated, there are no clear difficulty stairs and some songs are completely randomized, though some songs are plain lazy chosen. While difficult songs are easily recognized from a series.

It might be a change of pace, but the difficulty has to be balanced. I would say I like hint system more the streak system. Not only it gives the contestant a sense of confident when knowing which songs those are, but it also gives the player information like gameplay/story/memes indirectly. Of course, I handly-drafted those hints because I know the games that I chose, it gives me a charming sense when trying to explain the hints with its references. Picking songs from the middle seems a good idea, which mostly the most iconic part of those songs. However, another problem arose, that for a person like me flipped through thousands of playlist, it doesn't feel right to be disappointed not to find the songs required at first glance. Most songs should be iconic to its respective series/games, that people know that songs from those games.

Through every contest held, I sincerely hope that people can have that charming feel after discovering an inspirational game from the contest while enjoying listening to those songs. Not every contest is perfect: 1st one has absurdly hard songs, 2nd one has absurdly easy songs, while this one has the entire format changed.

I would have exams in January, that I wouldn't try hard clicking a countless playlist, nor trying hard to win this contest. To the future winner, please consider this message and spread joy to the SMBX forums.

jaf · Postby **jaf** » Sun Dec 22, 2019 11:27 am

cato wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 22, 2019 9:18 am

So you're saying this quiz doesn't have enough music from games barely anyone has ever heard about, basically? I guess there's some truth to that. But there are a decent amount of games in there that I really enjoyed but haven't seen referenced in this community very much. I look forward to seeing how many people recognize those.

As for why songs don't play from the beginning, my goal was actually to focus on less iconic parts of songs which make it more difficult to recognize a song immediately, and to discourage participants to go through thousands of playlists until they find the song because I don't really think that's the point of this quiz. Going through playlists is just a chore, going with your gut is a lot more fun, in my opinion. Personally I think songs that sound familiar but you can't quite pinpoint it are the most fun. My favorite songs from the last contest were Fulbrights Theme from Dual Destinies and the DKCR factory theme. Those were real 'Oh crap! I know this song! Crap where did I hear it?!' moments, and that was more fun to me than a song that you either know or you don't (though there are many of those here as well...) - though of course, I know it's also nice to be introduced to new games, and as a host it's nice to get a chance to introduce people to your favorite obscure games. I get that. But this is my reasoning for doing it like this.

Anyway as Enjl suggested, having the old zip format as an alternative is probably a good way to please everyone. So I quickly put together a zip file. The song parts that play are the exact same as in the video. Will add it to the OP. Good thing I still had the Audacity project file or this would've taken forever.

Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/epmqn0f745adl ... 3.zip?dl=0
OR
Mediafire: http://www.mediafire.com/file/n2m1l9rb4 ... 3.zip/file

DrMekar · Postby **DrMekar** » Sun Dec 22, 2019 8:02 pm

While this sounds intresting, the argument stated by Sancles Clan is a valid point, especially for persons with a weaker wifi connection, jumping around in a video is really annoying. Also I'm not sure what the prize is suppose to mean, with the right to host the next contest. You can't forbid someone to host the contest if they don't get first.

jaf · Postby **jaf** » Mon Dec 23, 2019 10:26 am

DrMekar wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 22, 2019 8:02 pm
While this sounds intresting, the argument stated by Sancles Clan is a valid point, especially for persons with a weaker wifi connection, jumping around in a video is really annoying. Also I'm not sure what the prize is suppose to mean, with the right to host the next contest. You can't forbid someone to host the contest if they don't get first.

Yes, I acknowledge that was shortsighted. But now you can also download a folder with each song as its own file just like always. If you want to be thorough and jump around a lot the zip format could be a lot more comfortable.

Well this is already the third quiz with this prize and so far it just kind of worked. I guess if someone else made a contest it wouldn't be the 'official' one... or something like that.

DrMekar · Postby **DrMekar** » Mon Dec 23, 2019 1:41 pm

jaf wrote: ↑
Mon Dec 23, 2019 10:26 am

DrMekar wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 22, 2019 8:02 pm
While this sounds intresting, the argument stated by Sancles Clan is a valid point, especially for persons with a weaker wifi connection, jumping around in a video is really annoying. Also I'm not sure what the prize is suppose to mean, with the right to host the next contest. You can't forbid someone to host the contest if they don't get first.
Well this is already the third quiz with this prize and so far it just kind of worked. I guess if someone else made a contest it wouldn't be the 'official' one... or something like that.

Oh, Okay. Still kind of an odd prize, but whatever.

jaf · Postby **jaf** » Sun Jan 12, 2020 8:16 am

This thread is getting buried so I am going to give a quick reminder.

The deadline is January 15th. I will close submissions when I get home on Thursday, which means early morning of the 16th for Americans.

I have received three submissions so far. That's not a lot, and because of that, there are still a ton of unsolved songs right now, even ones from very popular games. If you're interested, please participate. It's anyone's game!

MECHDRAGON777 · Postby **MECHDRAGON777** » Sun Jan 12, 2020 5:27 pm

Did not even know this was a thing. Might try to guess within the next seven days or so if I can.

Postby **ShadowStarX** » Mon Jan 13, 2020 1:30 am

MECHDRAGON777 wrote: ↑
Sun Jan 12, 2020 5:27 pm
Did not even know this was a thing. Might try to guess within the next seven days or so if I can.

Seven? More like two!

jaf · Postby **jaf** » Tue Jan 14, 2020 9:14 am

Based on the submissions I've received so far (thank you, by the way - we're at 6 contestants now), there is something I want to quickly clarify.

If you write down the names of two or more games for a song number, I will pick the one you wrote down first, even if the second one would've been the correct one.

Also keep in mind that if a song is from a remake, rerelease, ... and not from the original game, I expect you to write down the name of that specific version, unless they have the same name. So 'Super Mario 64' will not give you full points for a song that only appears in 'Super Mario 64 DS', and vice versa. A simple added suffix like 'HD', '3D', 'DX', ... also counts as a different name. There are only a few songs where that matters of course.

It's probably obvious but it actually affects a bunch of people in this contest. If you want to change your submission based on this information you can go ahead.
(And remember, tomorrow's the last day you can submit guesses.)

jaf · Postby **jaf** » Thu Jan 16, 2020 8:24 am

Time's up!
It's noticeable that there are less contestants with every contest, but 7 is still a really good number.
I received guesses from Sancles-chan, HenryRichard, 8lueStorm, MECHDRAGON777, DrMekar, cato and ShadowStarX.

I need to calculate and double-check everyone's score. The results will hopefully be released within the next 24 hours! No one was left in the dust and most people are really close together. It seems like this contest is between the first and second one in terms of difficulty. Anyway, I can give you the song list for this quiz.

Some words on tricky songs and other observations:

Miscellanous observations: show

Alright I'm done talking, here's the solution.

Full song list: show

cato · Postby **cato** » Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:07 am

What a troll this was.

Valentine · Postby **Valentine** » Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:04 pm

I can't believe my obligatory random persona guess was actually right for once.

Oshi · Postby **Oshi** » Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:23 pm

Oh I kinda forgot to submit my guesses, oops.

jaf · Postby **jaf** » Thu Jan 16, 2020 6:32 pm

A troll? What? There were no trolls in this contest. Don't know what you're talking about.

Results

As is the norm in these contests, I will post a list with who guessed what. I calculated everyone's score by Strg+F'ing through this list. So if there's something wrong in this list it will also be wrong in the final score. I don't think I made a mistake but I can never guarantee it.

Spoiler: show

And now it's time for the moment you've been waiting for:

And the winner is...: show

Valentine · Postby **Valentine** » Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:04 am

137 Persona 3 Sancles-chan_+2

This is wrong, I didn't guess 3 specifically, meaning this should only be 1 point, therefore removing 1 point from my total.

Look at that, a tie for first again.

agghhh wait nevermind I forgot about the only person to guess bonus

jaf · Postby **jaf** » Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:09 am

Sancles-Chan wrote: ↑
Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:04 am
137 Persona 3 Sancles-chan_+2

This is wrong, I didn't guess 3 specifically, meaning this should only be 1 point, therefore removing 1 point from my total.

Look at that, a tie for first again.

You were the only one to guess the franchise so you get x2 for that 1 point, which is why it says +2