It’s finally time to start the playoffs! After 7 months of group play we’re down to just 768 songs. The top 256 will receive a bye to the next round, leaving us with 512 songs facing off in this round.
To inform our newcomers (and remind some veterans!) the playoffs works slightly different than the group stages. Matchups are now 1v1 single elimination. Vote in as many (or as few) matches as you want. Ties will be broken by me; otherwise I will no longer be voting. You can see something resembling a bracket here.
Since it’s the playoffs, groups will be active until 9:00 AM Pacific the day after they post[footnote]Or the Monday after, for Friday groups[/footnote], i.e. for roughly 24 hours. You can listen to a playlist of today’s songs (in matchup order) here.
Please listen to both songs in a match before voting. Especially in these early playoff rounds; we don’t want songs advancing on reputation alone.
Or you can work ahead!
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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Or listen to every song[footnote]Including the songs with byes![/footnote] here.
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Also, since it’s the start of a new round, check out some fun stats!
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The play-in shook up the top a bit, leaving us with Paper Mario: The Origami King as our top game. The rest of the top tier is balanced out in your usual archetypes: the Nintendo flagships (Smash Ultimate, Sonic Mania[footnote]You know it’s true, from a sociological standpoint[/footnote], Splatoon 2), the JRPGs (13 Sentinels, FF7 Remake, NieR:Automata), the indie darlings (Celeste, Cuphead, A Hat in Time, Hades, OMORI), the game that captures our affections out of nowhere (Where the Water Tastes Like Wine). Strong diversity here, and obviously MASSIVE diversity down-ballot, if you care to look at the over 100 games on 1 or 2 songs.
15 songs (1 game)
- Paper Mario: The Origami King
14 songs (1 game)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
13 songs (6 games)
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
- Celeste
- Cuphead
- Final Fantasy VII REMAKE
- NieR:Automata
- Sonic Mania
11 songs (5 games)
- A Hat in Time
- Hades
- OMORI
- Splatoon 2
- Where the Water Tastes Like Wine
10 songs (6 games)
- Hollow Knight
- Mega Man 11
- Panzer Paladin
- Persona 5 Strikers
- Streets of Rage 4
- Style Savvy: Styling Star
9 songs (3 games)
- Kingdom Hearts III
- The Messenger
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2
8 songs (1 game)
- No Straight Roads
7 songs (2 games)
- Cadence of Hyrule
- Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment
6 songs (11 games)
- Crystar
- DIGIMON WORLD -next 0rder-
- Pokémon Sword and Shield
- Pyre
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Team Sonic Racing
- Tekken 7
- Touhou Luna Knights
- Trails of Cold Steel IV
- VirtuaVerse
5 songs (14 games)
- beatmania IIDX 25 CANNON BALLERS
- Door Kickers: Action Squad
- Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
- Grandia 2 HD
- Knight in the Woods
- Mega Man X Legacy Collection
- Monument Valley 2
- Outer Wilds
- Persona 5 Royal
- Sayonara Wild Hearts
- Slipstream
- Sonic Forces
- Trails of Cold Steel III
- Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
4 songs (20 games)
- 7 Billion Humans
- Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
- ARMS
- Bleed 2
- Collar x Malice
- Final Fantasy Record Keeper
- Katana ZERO
- Mad Rat Dead
- Minit
- Paradise Killer
- Ray’s the Dead
- Risk of Rain 2
- STAR OCEAN:anamnesis
- The LEgend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (2019)
- Touken Ranbu
- Umurangi Generation
- Unravel Two
- Wandersong
- Yakuza: Like a Dragon
3 songs (24 games)
- 198X
- Afterparty
- beatmania IIDX 26 Rootage
- Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling
- Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
- Dead Cells
- Deltarune Chapter 1
- Everything
- Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
- Florence
- Genshin Impact
- Gravity Rush 2
- Hollow Knight: Gods and Nightmares
- Hypnospace Outlaw
- Kentucky Route Zero
- Kirby Star Allies
- Necrobarista
- One Step From Eden
- Part Time UFO
- Shovel Knight: King of Cards
- Tetris Effect
- Wattam
- Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Connected
- Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair
2 songs (53 games)
- A Hat in Time: Nyakuza Metro
- A Short Hike
- A3!
- Alto’s Odyssey
- Baba is You
- beatmania IIDX 27 Heroic Verse
- Blaster Master Zero 2
- Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
- Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
- Blue Reflection
- Crawl
- CrossCode
- Death end re;Quest 2
- Death Stranding
- Dicey Dungeons
- Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory
- DJMax Respect
- Dragon Quest XI s: Echoes of and Elusive Age – Definitive Edition
- Fe
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses
- Friday Night Funkin’
- Gris
- Haven
- ICONOCLASTS
- If Found…
- Ikenfell
- Into the Breach
- Mega Man X Dive
- Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection
- Minecraft
- MUL.MASH.TAB.BA.GAL.GAL.
- Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
- Octopath Traveler
- Ori and the Will of the Wisps
- Parkitect
- Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight
- Picross S4
- Pixelmon
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX
- Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon
- Rime
- Sonic Time Twisted
- Spark the Electric Jester
- Terraria Calamity Mod
- The Messenger: Picnic Panic
- The Sexy Brutale
- This Is the Police 2
- Timespinnner
- Vitamin Connection
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country
- Yooka-Laylee
- ZeroRanges
1 song (103 games)
- A Hat in Time: Seal the Deal
- AI: The Somnium Files
- Animal Crossing New Horizons
- Another Lost Phone: Laura’s Story
- Arcalast
- Assassin’s Creed Origins
- Astral Chain
- Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy
- Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials
- beatmania IIDX 24 SINOBUZ
- beatmania IIDX 28 Bistrover
- Blacksad: Under The Skin
- Blazing Chrome
- Bugsnax
- Caravan Stories
- Cars 3: Driven to Win
- Cloudpunk
- Clubhouse Games
- Command and Conquer Remastered
- Creaks
- Crystal Crisis
- Cultist Simulator
- Cytus II
- Devil May Cry 5
- Disco Elysium
- Donut Country
- DOOM Eternal
- Dragon Quest XI
- Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
- Eastshade
- Erica
- Far: Lone Sails
- Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
- Fire Emblem Heroes
- First of the North Star: Lost Paradise
- Flowers: Le Volume sur Hiver
- Fortune 499
- Freedom Planet 2
- Frog Fractions 2
- Genesis of Destiny Rebellion
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Grandia HD
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
- Horizon: Zero Dawn
- Hover: Revolt of Gamers
- Idola Phantasy Star Saga
- Judgment
- Kenshi
- Kentucky Route Zero Episode 5
- Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-
- Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory
- Kirby Fighters 2
- Knights and Bikes
- Kunai
- Last Day of June
- Lethal League Blaze
- Life is Strange: Before the STorm
- Mahou Daisakusen/Sorcer Striker
- Maimai MiLK
- Missing-X-Link ~Ten no Yurikago, Togi no Hana~
- Moonlighter
- Murasaki Tsurugi
- Octahedron
- Oninaki
- Overcooked! 2
- Persona Q2
- Picross S5
- Pit People
- Pizza Tower
- Pokémon Sword and Shield: The Isle of Armor
- Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Eevee!
- Pokken Tournament DX
- Prey
- Project SEKAI: Colorful Stage!
- Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk
- Quarantine Circular
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- River City Girls
- Sdorica -sunset-
- Secret of Mana (2018)
- Snake Pass
- Snipperclips Plus
- Sonic Chaos (SAGE 2018 Demo)
- Sonic Gaiden
- Soul Calibur VI
- Spiritfarer
- Stela
- Steven Universe: Save The Light
- Sword ARt Online: Fatal Bullet
- The Gardens Between
- The Journey Down: Chapter Three
- The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince
- The Red Strings Club
- Thimbleweed Park
- Tooth and Tail
- Trials of Mana
- Umurangi Generation Macro
- WarioWare Gold
- West of Loathing
- Wonder Boy and the Dragon’s Trap
- World of Horror
- Yoku’s Island Express
- Zarvot
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This round will end on Tuesday, March 28th at 9:00AM Pacific