FFR Official Tournament: Round 5!

We've hit the halfway point. How does it feel?

Here's a quick reality check for those of you caught up in the survival of this gauntlet tournament - with there being only a shade over 85 people left, we've knocked out more than 80% of the the field. Many of you have been sprinting through the rounds, jumping over each hurdle that's been tossed - others have been toppling over, but have continued to race, absolutely exhausted. Those of you who feel like it's hopeless because of everyone who's left in your division, here's an enticement give it your all, one more time:

<b>Survive this round, and the Vertex BETA vrofl token is yours.</b>

That's right. If you can climb high enough on the tournament dashboard to survive that yellow muck, you'll have one of the most difficult to unlock tokens in your repetoire.

Now that I have your attention, listen up. Here are the songs you need to play for this round.

<span style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">REMEMBER: All scores for this tournament are recorded automatically. See <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/tournament/">the tournament dashboard</a> to see how you’re doing in comparison to your opponents!</span>

<b>Division 1: La Cereza Caliente</b>
Here we go. The fifth round for the Beginner division is <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/levelstats.php?level=1577">La Cereza Caliente</a>, a techno song by Newgrounds artist <a href="http://caine1989.newgrounds.com/">Caine1989</a> that is seemingly influenced by latin rhythms and structure. While the song is slower in comparison to previous rounds, the chart is a bit more constant, dense, and technical, using occasional repeated taps with jumps in somewhat close proximity. Credit to this chart goes to <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/profile/Elite Ninja/">Elite Ninja</a>, who now joins the R1 Simfile Author group with his first file in game. Congratulations!

<b>Division 2: Stay Crunchy</b>
The intermediate bumps up the difficulty quite a bit with a more technical streaming file. <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/levelstats.php?level=1578">Stay Crunchy</a> by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/ronaldjenkees">Ronald Jenkees</a>, a Challenging level file by our still-alive-in-the-tournament simfiling extraordinare, <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/profile/who_cares973/">who_cares973</a>. Stay Crunchy turns up the heat by putting in a ton of 16th note runs, some of which are caught within jumps and occasionaly, jacks as well. Last round, Division 2 had to fend off speedy, but short sprints of 16th runs - this round, we lose the fast song pace, but gain some quick synthesized melodies to boost the difficulty up to a pre-prize round worthy level. Things only get harder from here...

<b>Division 3: spanish</b>
Round 5 for the Advanced division is also a pretty heavy increase in difficulty - this time, you guys get an all around technical nightmare with <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/levelstats.php?level=1579">spanish</a>, a "spanish" song (really? a song style that's the same as the song title? "hnghhhhhhhhhhh.") by <a href="http://www.muzie.ne.jp/artist/a042347/">katoh</a> that uses very fluid flourishes and melodies to form an all-around charting masterpiece. A chart featuring this many techniques has to be rated relatively high in difficulty, and has been given a Very Challenging rating as a result. Chart credit goes to two people (what!?) - <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/profile/bmah>bmah</a> and <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/profile/MarioNintendo">MarioNintendo</a>.

<b>Division 4: Colorful Course</b>
What's a For Masters Only file? Oh yeah, this one. <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/levelstats.php?level=1580">Colorful Course</a> by <a href="http://tsubu.ath.cx/~ssry/">Yuuyu</a>, stepped by <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/profile/kjwkjw">kjwkjw</a>. Unlike the previous round where the difficulty was driven by extremely fast bursts and quick blips, this chart gradients in and out of a relatively constant pace, tossing in abrasive flowing jumpstream and occasional 24th/32nd rolls. Adding to the difficulty is the length of the file, with you guys tapping the last step after 3 minutes and 29 seconds of play - your longest song yet! With a much more straightforward and simplistic file, there is the chance for an extremely heated climb to the prize round - with only eight of you going on, things are sure to be really tense. Good luck!

<b>Division 5: Magical Higan Tour 2009</b>
Touhou gone to the extreme? SURE! After taking the toughest difficulty spike out of any division last round to compensate for the influx of extra people, it could be assumed that the Master division is getting some sort of a break, right? Well, not entirely. Welcome to the second half of the tournament, where it's For Gurus Only files from here on out. <a href="http://www.myspace.com/tpazolite/">t+pazolite</a> breaks out the rapid pace and heavy synths known to his style of music in <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/levelstats.php?level=1581">Magical Higan Tour 2009</a> - pushing out constant barrages of layered 16th note sprints and the occasional 24th bursts or faste at a whopping 240 BPM. Just like Division 3, this too is a collaboration between two FFR simfile artists, with credit going to both <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/profile/Ziergdsx18">Ziergdsx18</a> and <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/profile/kommisar[os]/">kommisar[os]</a>.

<b>Division 6: Zombie Sunset</b>
It has been over two years since FFR has seen a new chart for a <a href="http://www.myspace.com/1016488">DEV/NULL</a> song, and just like the last two songs, this too is rated a For Gurus Only file. Easily the most technical file of the division so far, <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/levelstats.php?level=1582">Zombie Sunset</a> pushes the Guru division into gear for the prize rounds by testing them in multiple aspects. Running at roughly 215 BPM, the chart uses very dense broken jumpstream, occasional mini-jacks following subtle percussion accents, bursts for incredibly fast breaks, jump jacks for repeated accents, and to make things even more difficult, it is relentless, forcing nearly 2800 steps during the entire duration of the song. With a constant pace, fairly high length (one second away from four minutes...) and many different techniques required to score well, this could prove to be the breaking point for the remaining contenders. Credit to this awesome chart goes to <a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/profile/leonid/">leonid</a>.

In seven days, forty-eight contenders will be left standing, emerging with at least one prize in hand. Are you one of them?

- TC_Halogen, psychoangel691, Velocity, FFR Staff