Back in June we held a little karaoke contest that was run by myself specifically, in an effort to sort of connect to the community more. I'd like to think of it as a nice little failure because although we did get participation, I just neglected to follow up on it. Eventually, it died. Every-so-often I get some random jerk on the internet asking me whatever happened to my feature, and I tell them, "Oh yeah, I'll put up the results tomorrow." Well, since I quit my job I'm finding myself with an enormous amount of free time, especially at near-midnight on Thanksgiving day. I've decided to finally write up commentary, share what the elite judges thought about each piece, and let you, the listener, hear for yourselves some of the sheer awesomeness that I received in my e-mail box over the course of a week. Finally, I present to you, in true N-Philes fashion, the results of the June 2004 N-Philes Karaoke Contest #1. This could be the start of something beautiful, people.
For the purpose of this website, each judge will get their own color. Since only three of the seven judges submitted their responses I'll just use theirs and do my own little thing. My text appears normally. Matthew Warren's comments appear in green. Mike Sharp's comments appear in red.
Handle: AquaFudge
Song: Follow Me
Game: Sonic Heroes
Composer: Kay Hanley
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The first track comes from a good friend of mine, AquaFudge, singing a great theme from Sonic Heroes. Sonic music seems to have been a popular choice for many of the contestants because, well, Sonic rules and so do the themes. I particularly like this theme, which is Team Rose's catchy tune, and hearing Nick... I mean, AquaFudge do it is just so hilarious bad that I had to listen to the actual song without his lyrics to wash it from my brain. Well done.
Handle: AquaFudge
Song: This Machine
Game: Sonic Heroes
Composer: Julien-K
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I had to let him go twice. He likes Sonic music, so do I. He can't do any harm. Apparently it isn't bad, in fact, it's a little bit better than your first entry, which I actually don't agree with since I like Follow Me so much more. But hey, to each his own.
Handle: demalavor
Song: Escape from the City
Game: Sonic Adventure 2
Composer: Jun Senoue
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Once again, popular Sonic themes are the way to go. This was my first entry received, which was only because I know demalavor as well, but if I recalled he seemed enthusiastic enough. This is from a more recognizable theme (from a more recognizable game, unfortunately) which basically anyone who has played the game knows all the lyrics to. It's described as "William Hungish", which of course goes hand in hand with the coveted "Best Bad Performance" award. I personally love the energy, as I recall he had a cold when he sung this.
Handle: Fei
Name of Song: Sonic Heroes
Name of Game: Sonic Heroes
Composer: Crush 40
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More Sonic. It just keeps getting better and better. This is a good one, though. The vocals are a bit more serious and pretty cool, although a bit off-key in true karaoke fashion. Not that it makes it bad karaoke. Matt raves, "very nice job" and Mike gives you a simple "jawesome." Well done.
Handles: Singers: Odin and Kurenai
Mixed by: Flik
Song: Currents (based off of the version from Suikoden's "Celtic Collections")
Game: Genso Suikoden II
Composer: Miki Hoshigano
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This is amazing. Any self-respecting fan of video game music has heard a Suikoden soundtrack or two, and this duo picked an excellent song to do a choir arrange of. The vocals are great, the processing is superb and it's very nicely mixed all together. We were all extremely impressed by this one, and I'm just hoping you guys didn't go through any effort just to submit this to the competition. If we ever organize another one, I hope to get more of this quality.
Handle: lilbudgieeli
Song: "The legend of zelda theme"
Game: "The lengend of zelda oot"
Composer: Koji Kondo
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Just to remind us that not everyone gave it their all, along comes the infamous lilbudgieeli to crash the party. He seems to have written his own arrangement and lyrics to the popular theme of a franchise starring a tunic-clad hero. The problem is, it kind of sounds like he's choking on a wishbone throughout the entire song. No good karaoke entry starts with the singer having an orgasm. As true today as it was when written.
Handle: MajinBuu
Song: Great Mighty Poo
Game: Conker Bad Fur Day
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This karaoke is entirely A Capella, although it sounds more like A Cacrappy because Buu just starts to trail off into his own thing about 6 seconds into the song. Look, we're all glad you know the lyrics to a song sung by a giant mountain of feces, the least you could do is put some heart into your performance. You're fired.
Handle: Nik Jam
Song: Biolizard's theme "Supporting Me"
Game: Sonic Adventure 2
Composer: Fumie Kumatani, E. Bradlys
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I'm giving NikJam bonus points for singing along to one of the best boss themes done by one of my favorite composers. The talking part is done well enough, I guess, but the actual song itself has such a great transition into the singing portion that I just can't help but shed a tear for good ol' Biolizard. Matthew suggests you invest in a new microphone, although by the time I've written this up you've probably already gone through three more. Or not.
Handle: Ninjaboy
Song: Four Seasons (English)
Game: Wario Ware
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This is my winner. I remember dying of laughter when I first heard this. For those of you who don't know, after you play Jump Forever for a while you get to jump along to one of the vocal tunes in the game. Four Seasons was an obvious choice because, even though the vocals in the game are in Japanese, it shows the English lyrics as you jump along with the song. It was pure genius that this man decided to sing along to the game while playing it, specifically because you can hear exactly when he loses, and it is hilarious.
Handle: Raika
Song: DREAMS, DREAMS
Game: NiGHTS Into Dreams...
Composer: Tomoko Sasaki
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Months later, I finally get to embarrass Raika. You see, Raika's Scottish and he has a very, very thick accent. When he submitted this of all songs, which happens to be my favorite ending theme from my favorite game, it was comedic genius. What do you get when a Scotsman covers both the male and female vocals in the same song? The answer just happens to be in .wav format. Oh, and, Raika? You're a good man.
Handle: Sophia
Song: Guardia Millenial Fair
Game: Chrono Trigger
Composer: Yasunori Mitsuda
Lyrics: J. Edwards
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If you're here to hear quality, professional karaoke entries then you probably stopped reading ages ago. If you're here because, well, you like this feature, then guess what - you've just hit the zenith of the proverbial mountain of talent. Sophia's entry to this competition is astounding, everything is perfectly on-key, the lyrics are great and it's generally extremely well performed. The vocals are also clear, so bonus points for that. She sings far too well to be wasting [her] talent on a videogame karaoke competition. It's a real treat to listen to, so check it out.
Handle: StrudelNinja
Song: DK Rap
Game: Donkey Kong 64
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This is the most stereotypical karaoke performance of all time. You know the words but don't follow the tune at all. You are awarded no
points, and may god have mercy on your soul. You lose. Good day, sir.
If I had to announce the overall winners, they would be Sophia and Odin/Kurenai. This was just a competition for fun, but these two went all out. The world salutes you.
Of course, this karaoke competition wouldn't be fun if it just ended there! Here's some staff karaoke! Heh heh...
Name: James Freeman
Song: BGM
Game: Banjo-Kazooie
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Here's a minute or so of Freeman humming along to a theme from Rare's Banjo-Kazooie... with extra hilarity!!! You're such a nerd, James.
Name: James Freeman
Song: "Birthday Cake" by Cibo Matto
Game: Jet Set Radio: Future
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Why did you ruin this awesome song? Now with inappropriate sound feedback!
Name: NightsB
Song: Let the Winds Blow
Game: Phantasy Star Online Episode III
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This is an excellent, masterful theme to an equally brilliant game. Here's my hardcore screamo arrangement of it.
Name: NightsB
Song: Theme of Night Trap
Game: Night Trap
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No N-Philes karaoke contest is complete without the theme from Sega's Night Trap. It's such a great theme, you might need to listen to it twice. Or seven times.
Name: Vincent Anderson
Song: Believe In Myself
Game: Sonic Adventure
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When he's not doing work for N-Philes, which is all the time, Vinny a.k.a. SS4Gogita likes to sing along to his favorite karaoke tunes. And the world suffers.
Name: Vincent Anderson
Song: Unknown From M.E.
Game: Sonic Adventure
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I was just listening to this again, Vinny. It's not half bad.
Name: Matthew Warren
Song: Zelda The Music of My Groin
URL: www.ocremix.org
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For those of you not familiar with Shael Riley's moving remix of the Zelda theme about his groin, here's your chance to hear superstar Matt Warren's rendition of it. It truly is the definition of "ear candy."
There you have it. Come on guys, I was only 5 months late with this one. I hope you liked it!
