Uploaded January 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

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A cover of "Champion Cynthia" (aka "Approaching The Champion") from the game Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum and it's remake, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl.
As mentioned in previous Pokemon covers, the games are without a doubt my favourites of all time and I absolutely loved the Sinnoh remakes!
This track is incredibly underrated as it is only played during a small segment of the game, but still manages to have a massive impact before facing the final challenge of the game, that is the champion Cynthia! She is the infamous champion of Sinnoh and almost universally agreed that she is the hardest champion to beat - however beating her is so much easier than trying to play her theme!
I always really enjoy playing classical pieces on guitar as it's usually a fun challenge, and seeming has the original is pretty much a classical piano piece, I thought I'd give it ago as I found the arrangement surprisingly quick and easy to come up with.
However, this is by far the hardest cover I've had to play so far! I definitely had to channel my inner 'Dream Theater' and 'Symphony X' to get the shredding down, and as big a challenge as that was, the acoustic section was so much harder! My acoustic playing is already pretty weak as I'm pretty bad at finger picking, so I was really pushing my limits to try and get this mastered. Needless to say, I don't think this one is I'll be playing for fun in the near future, and hopefully Noble will forgive me for making him play this one!
Fortunately, luck was on my side with the mix as this one was relatively easy to do, between the softer sections and the more intense sections.


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All Guitars, Keys, and Mixing: Sumask
Bass: Noble
Composed by: Go Ichinose
Arranged by: Sumask

Instruments Used:
Rhythm and Lead Guitar: Ernie Ball Music Man JP7
Acoustic Guitar: Some crappy Chord one
Bass: Dingwall NG3
Keytar: Roland AX-Edge
Microphone: Focusrite Scarlett CM25

Drum Software: EZDrummer 2

Interface: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
Audio Software: Cubase 8
Video Software: Lightworks