The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny

"The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny", often shortened to "The Ultimate Showdown", is a comical song and video released on December 22, 2005. The song was written and performed by Neil Cicierega under the pseudonym "Lemon Demon", with art and Flash animation by Shawn Vulliez.

"The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny"
Screenshot from the official music video for "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny", featuring a large collection of pop culture characters
Song by Lemon Demon
from the album Dinosaurchestra
ReleasedDecember 22, 2005[1]
Length3:33
LabelBandung Recordings
Songwriter(s)Neil Cicierega
Producer(s)Neil Cicierega
Music video
"The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" on Newgrounds
"The Ultimate Showdown" on YouTube (2017 Edit)

"The Ultimate Showdown" is a massive, citywide battle set in Tokyo started by Godzilla and Batman ultimately involving dozens of pop-culture icons, fictional and otherwise, ending with Mr. Rogers emerging victorious and then committing seppuku. It gained a large cult following among web enthusiasts[2] and became the "User's Choice" on December 28, 2005 on Newgrounds, where it has been viewed over 18 million times.[3] It appeared on several other websites including Albino Blacksheep,[4] YouTube, Flashportal, Transbuddha, and Weebl's Stuff. In 2006 it was included on Lemon Demon's fifth album Dinosaurchestra. As of November 2020, it had over 25 million views on YouTube.[5]

The song topped the "Funny Five" on The Dr. Demento Show for several weeks and was the #1 Request for 2006. The video has since been parodied and referenced repeatedly in other flash videos. A new version of the song was later recorded specifically for the Rock Band Network and was released for the service on July 6, 2010 under the title The Ultimate Showdown (RBN Mix). In 2009, the song was rerecorded with a full band, and this track was included in Lemon Demon's 2011 EP "Live (Only Not)".

In early January 2021, the original music video on YouTube was taken down by Shawn Vulliez, the original animator of the short. He would go on to reupload the music video to his own channel, where he discussed his decision in the comment section of an unlisted video with other users.[6]

Characters

The song mentions a long list of characters, both real and fictional. They are shown in the following order:

Characters not mentioned in the song but depicted in the video include Robin; Dudley Do-Right; Snidely Whiplash; Samuel L. Jackson being attacked by snakes; Mario fighting Sonic the Hedgehog; Eric Bauman, creator of eBaum's World, being punched in the face by Lowtax; Santa Claus being run over by the DeLorean time machine; Goku; R2-D2 and C-3PO being taken apart by a Jawa; Tobias Fünke; Han Solo encased in carbonite; and Pac-Man. McGruff the Crime Dog is mentioned in the song, but not depicted in the video.

Notes and references
  1. "The Ultimate Showdown". Newgrounds. December 22, 2005. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  2. Rempel, Shauna (August 26, 2006). "Copy, paste, animate". The Toronto Star. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
  3. Sweeney, Emily (June 22, 2006). "He's a hit with Internet set". The Boston Globe. Retrieved February 16, 2008.
  4. Rini, Carol (April 11, 2006). "Seen & Overheard". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  5. "The Ultimate Showdown (with MP3 ♫)". YouTube. AlbinoBlackSheep. May 6, 2008. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  6. "The Ultimate Showdown Of Ultimate Destiny (2005) (720p)". YouTube. Shawn Vulliez. Jan 22, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
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