Top 13 Ice Level/World Themes
1,248This is something I've been dreaming about doing for a while. At some point, Patrick (pcull44444) beat me to it, but heck if I can find his list now. The video description below does contain a few spoilers about what's on the list, just a warning.
I didn't put a whole lot of stock into the order of things here. I had my mind made up about the Top 4 a long time ago. The list was originally only supposed to be a Top 11, and I forgot about that until after I had already made the graphics for all the number segues in between. So I had to quickly think of two more songs, and I ended up thinking of four. Hence the additional two songs mentioned at the beginning. There really are no huge surprises here, though. I think #9 is about as obscure as I get.
I played the songs for differing lengths depending on how repetitive they were, which is why SMB3's Ice World theme goes for all of 45 seconds while others play over 3 minutes. Other factors included the length of time it took a song to loop. I would have liked to let Freezeezy Peak play over twice, but it would have ended up taking almost five minutes, and the best part of the song (in my opinion anyway) is at the very end. If that part of the song had been in the middle, for example, I might have let it play up to that point the second time and it would have only been 3 1/2 minutes. If you catch my drift. Haha, get it, drift? Ahem, anyway...
I'm sure I'll catch all kinds of heck for ranking Phendrana and Freezeezy as low as I did. I feel that even though Phendrana is a lovely tune, it doesn't really "jump out" in the same way that some of the others do, and though it pains me to be such a Grinch, Freezeezy is still just a little too "Christmassy" for top five stuff. To be perfectly honest, I almost wonder why I didn't rank Sonic 3 above them.
Yet again, within the top five, the transition between #5 and #4 is so jarring that I'm sure people will be compelled to wonder how I could put an abomination such as Mega Man 7 above Okami. I was just trying to keep it about the song, and truth be told, I still have yet to play Okami myself, so I don't really have the same emotional attachment to it that many others surely have. It would have felt pretentious on my part to stick it any higher just to come off as more "legitimate". Despite Mega Man 7 being something of a shitty game, I can't deny that Freeze Man's theme is brilliantly written. It's hard to make "sparkly" music that still sounds like it has a melody, and the way the "sparkly" notes dance in this song sounds so great, I could listen to it all day.
Okami is one of three games represented on this list that I haven't actually played; the only reason I know about the songs is from hearing them in LP's or other videos. So because of that, it has to be a pretty incredible song to grab me in spite of me not really knowing the implications of the song as it relates to the game. You can still kind of tell though just by watching the footage what it all really means. Why do I keep expecting my cursor to slip like it's on ice?
I would have liked to put the theme from the Ice Level of Castle Crashers on here, as I have heard it and think it's an incredible composition. The only issue is that you can't exactly take footage of the game discreetly; the names of the players appear at the top of the screen. Sure, I could have played inbox tag with someone to work it out, but whatever. Most of the footage you see here is either from my own LP's or speed runs. That sure as heck ain't me playing Battletoads, I'll tell you that right now.
And of course as always, my #1 is the most predictable thing in the history of anything. You would think I had already spent enough time beating you guys over the head with that song, using it in my "These 16 LP's can be yours" video, using it over fast-forward montages, using it in CrapCraft, but no, even that's not enough. You knew it was gonna happen, so just try and guess what #2 is instead (that is, if you've read this far before finishing the video).
If you guys have ideas for other Top 13 lists you'd like to see, shoot! I'm already thinking about a Top 13 8-bit Megaman themes, but I can't promise anything.
Thanks as always for watching. Your support continues to astound and delight every fiber of my being! All of the love!
NCS