Rating Metal Gear Rising Songs By How Well They'd Fit In A Shadow the Hedgehog Game

In honor of that one guy on twitter who couldn't tell them apart. I'm rating all vocal boss tracks based on narrative (how well they match Shadow's cannon), tone (how much they sound like Shadow's OST), and general badassery (this should be obvious). I have never played a Metal Gear but I do have a PhD in Shadow the Hedgehog. All results are final and totally subjective. Here we go.

Rules of Nature: This would make a great opening to Shadow the Hedgehog 2. Tone and badassery are there, but it's lacking a certain "je ne sais hog" in the narrative category. 7/10.

I'm My Own Master Now: Perfect. Incredible. Show stopping. Shadow's hero arc in a nutshell. 10/10.

Stranger I Remain: Again, damn good when it comes to Shadow's narrative. You've got the amnesia. The fighting in a strange war. The outside influences. If SEGA weren't such cowards and put female vocalists in Shadow's game I'd give this a perfect score. But they are cowards, so, 8/10.

The Hot Wind Blowing: The stupid amounts of angst are there, but otherwise would make no sense in a Shadow game. Unless he got really lost in Knuckles' level and decided to have a narrative arc about it. 4/10.

The Stains of Time: Huge points for kickass drums and electric guitar. Additional points deducted for too much mud and rain. 6/10.

Red Sun: Red Sun is my favorite goddamn track in this OST but I gotta stay true to my ranking metric and say. It's D-tier in terms of narrative. But the VIBE is there. The DRUMS are there. The instrumentals and vocal quality are identical to a Shadow OST. I have to give it a 7/10.

The Only Thing I Know For Real: Every time I listen to this song my brain switches off and I enter Teen Angst Headbang Mode. It's got it all. The lack of memories. The drive to fight. The absolutely bonkers lyrics found in any good Sonic the Hedgehog game. 100/10.

Collective Consciousness: Huge GUN vs Shadow vibes, especially if Shadow's game went even further into the "military sucks" theme. But that's the game we could have, not the game we were given, so it only gets a 6/10.

It Has To Be This Way: YEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Can you IMAGINE a Shadow vs Sonic Bad End brawl to the death with this song blaring in the background???? I'd play the shit out of that and then ascend. 1000000/10.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk on this subject. I highly recommend listening to the Shadow the Hedgehog OST and the MGR OST until a Hot Topic manifests inside your skull. They're great.

being insane about your own fics is so embarrassing like i want to scream and cry and shout about them but it’s like. my own guys.

I'm curious to see how my readers found me! (For the purposes of this poll, "follow" includes "not technically following but I check in every so often." Y'all are welcome to vote too!)

"Wait, you write fanfic???"

I sure do! You can find me on AO3 as sungold_summer!

a bunch of (mostly) unfinished stuff from when i was playing shadow the hedgehog

The last character you drew/wrote about is now stuck in the last game you played. How screwed are they?

is hold

Some Wandersong Fanart, I need to replay the game again

is this fic self-indulgent? yes. but what you're failing to consider is that I can write whatever I want so it's fine

everyone has a ship thats just: theyre perfect. they hate each other. theyre married. they havent spoken in 15 years. they have date nights three times a week. theyre divorced. theyre pining, its unrequited. its requited. theyre starcrossed. theyre meant to be. theyre doomed by the narrative. they love each other. theyve never held hands. they wont stop making out at parties. they cant look each other in the eye