Best OST Contest 3

Beginning soon!

See also:
 * Best OST Contest
 * Best OST Contest 2

Nomination Phase

 * 1) During the days that nominating is open, users will be welcome to submit nominations. Please check the list of current nominations to not accidentally duplicate an existing nomination. (Exception for alternate setlists, see below.) Link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoS8GGHS9FDGdFljOU9MMHNZNl9lRmRGM3VGc1N5bEE (this is year 2's, new SS coming soon.)
 * 2) When a nomination is given, the user must also provide six songs, in the order you want them played, plus one alternate. All songs must include a link to the song. I strongly prefer YouTube. See example below.
 * 3) All songs must be original to *that* video game. Remixes are acceptable. Mere arrangements are not. Licensed material that is effectively original to the game or that should be an obvious exception will be accepted. (Examples: Braid's soundtrack, Mass Effect's M4 Part 2, Professor Layton's theme used in a sequel.) The music must be findable from the game somehow, even if it’s not heard during a normal playthrough.
 * 4) Game choices will be limited to one game, not a series. Expansions and official add-ons count as part of the base game. If a game is episodic, (Umineko, .hack,) the episodes will count as one game. "Not a game" games that are typically accepted on Board 8 like Homestuck and visual novels will be accepted.
 * 5) NEW THIS YEAR: As a variation on rule #3, any version of a game may be nominated. If the SNES port of a game is superior to the Arcade edition, or if a remake offers superior renditions of old 8-bit music, you do not have to go with the original version of the game. Please specify in your nomination if it is not the original. You may not mix and match. All songs must be from the same version. All nominations for the same game still count as the same entity for support vote and bracketing purposes.
 * 6) The following games are “retired” due to past success and may not be nominated: Ar Tonelico II - Melody of Metafalica, Shatter
 * 7) Users are limited to one nomination per day. You may not post a game ahead of time, reserve a game selection, or nominate multiple times in a day following an absence to make up for lost time. (This rule will only be enforced for flagrant abusers; don't split hairs over if you can nominate at 12:02 AM.)
 * 8) THERE ARE NO RULES TO HOW YOU DETERMINE THE ORDER IN YOUR SETLIST. You might decide to put your strongest songs at the end for the tough competition your game would face there, or you might put them up front to help ensure the game makes it through the opening rounds of the tournament.
 * 9) If you have nominated a game in previous years, please wait until at least day 4 of the nomination phase to nominate it.
 * 10) Nominators may change their setlist up until the point that games are chosen for the bracket.
 * 11) Alternate setlists:
 * If a setlist for a game is not up to your standards, it is your responsibility to talk to the nominator and try to work with them to get it changed. If for some reason this proves not possible, you may re-nominate the game with a second alternate setlist.
 * Alternate setlists will not be accepted on the day the game was originally nominated. Please talk to the nominator first.
 * Alternate setlists will count as your nomination for the day.
 * When an alternate setlist is proposed, all existing support votes will count for both lists. In this specific instance, retracting support votes will be allowed.
 * All future support votes for the game will count toward both unless they specify one list or the other.
 * The setlist with more support votes will preclude the other(s). In the event of a tie, the original (or oldest) list will prevail.

''TLDR version: Pick a game. Pick six songs you want it to feature during the tournament, in order. Give an extra song as an alternate. Give YouTube links.''

Example:

Nominate: Street Fighter II (SNES, Turbo edition)

1. Balrog - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5vkbe17Fwk

2. Chun Li - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFXDYBvdVJY

3. Blanka - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbPzv42k4c

4. Vega - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQwoKgM-mso

5. Ken - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFYK8sL5BHI

6. Guile - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8gIvHhloNg

Alt. Staff Roll - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdU6nWATKaw

Voting and Selection Phase

 * 1) Beginning during the nominating period and extending for (several days) afterwards, users will be given the option to “support vote” (SV) the nominations. Games with the most SVs will be placed in the bracket, and possibly given preferential placement.
 * 2) To support vote, simply make a post stating that you support a game. You may support as many games as you like, and you are encouraged to support more than one game at a time. Keep the actual voting portion of your post simple and direct.
 * 3) You may not retract support votes. This is petty and creates unnecessary work. Exceptions will be made for radically revised setlists.
 * 4) Conditional votes ("I'll vote if the nominator does XXX") will not be tracked.
 * 5) Support votes by the nominators will not be counted. It’s assumed you support your own nominations.
 * 6) At the conclusion of support voting, the games will be ranked first by number of support votes, and then by the order they were nominated. The top 64 games will be entered into the bracket, and seeded accordingly.
 * 7) (Touhou rule) Highly represented series will be limited to three entries at most. If a fourth game from the same series would make the bracket, it will be omitted. Note that “series” is not the same thing as “intellectual property.” Decisions on this rule will be borne primarily out of gameplay. Thus, Final Fantasy Tactics would not be part of Final Fantasy, but Mega Man X would be part of Mega Man. -- no longer applies.

Main Tournament Phase

 * 1) Upon announcement of the bracket, several days will be given for users to make bracket predictions. Following this, the tournament will begin.
 * 2) Two matches will run per day, for a period of 24 hours. Once the first round of the winner's bracket (WB) has finished, the second match each day will be from the loser's bracket (LB), until the WB finishes and both matches come from the LB.
 * 3) During each match, voters will be asked to choose between the songs representing the games in the matches. Song 1 on each setlist will be used in the first round, song 2 in the second, etc. Voters MUST vote on the songs and not on other criteria.
 * 4) The game represented by the song with more votes advances. In the event of a tie, a rematch will take place using the “alternate” from each game’s setlist.
 * 5) Games that lose will be placed in the loser’s bracket. At the conclusion of the first round of the main tournament, one match from each day will be a pairing from the LB. Loser’s Bracket matches will (generally) use the first tier of songs that both games have not yet played in a match.
 * 6) In the LB, each game will receive a number of byes equal to the number of rounds they won in the WB. Additionally, the WB final four will receive an extra bye. The songs played in the rounds of the loser's bracket will be numbers 2-3-4-5-1-6-5-6.
 * 7) The finals of the tournament will be a best of three format, using either all three odd-numbered songs or all three even-numbered songs. The alternate will replace any song pairing that represents a rematch. If the LB champion wins the first set, the other grouping will be used for the follow-up. The LB champion must win both since the WB champion must lose twice to be eliminated.