BlackMIDI:The Nuker

## The Nuker

### Author(s)

Emex Dénvîr, Tikronix, Alexander Verevkin, BlackHawk580, KirbyFan2015, Eddywaltz, GamingMIDI

### Availability

Private

The Nuker (formerly known as The Destroyer II) is a series of medley mashup Black MIDIs made by Emex Dénvîr and other blackers. Ther series is known for the usage of TheSuperMarioBros2’s melodies as well as high note counts. The Nuker series became popular after Carlos S. M. uploaded a video of The Nuker 1.9.3, the last and final release of The Nuker 1. It was superseded by The Nuker 2, The Nuker 3, and The Nuker 4. Emex originally planned that The Nuker 3 F3 was the last MIDI in the series when it was released on the 13th of October, 2016. The series was put on indefinite hiatus since the third one was finished, with future attention being put towards the "Tsar Bomb," a MIDI series of similar intent and later failing to meet it's goal. In early 2018, Emex teamed up with Eddywaltz to create a new Nuker, but it has not yet been finished. Despite the popularity of the series among the Black MIDI fanbase, also it has been the object of controversy and criticism due to its composition of silent notes as well as the usage of other blackers' phrases / melodies.

## The Nuker 1

The Nuker 1, which was originally called “The Destroyer II,” but was changed due to TheSuperMarioBros2’s request, was the first installment in the Nuker series. The first version was made in December 2015 as the Destroyer II 1.0.0, but it was never released and the series never saw light until 1.4 in late December 2015 with the latest version being 1.9.3 released around March 2016 with 26 Million notes. All Nuker 1 MIDIs were made by Emex himself, with nobody assisting him with the development. 1.5 was the first version known to be known as "The Nuker"

 The Destroyer II 1.1
 The Nuker 1.5
 The Nuker 1.6
 The Nuker 1.7
 The Nuker 1.8
 The Nuker 1.9
 The Nuker 1.9.1

## The Nuker 2

The Nuker 2 was the second installment of the Nuker series made by Emex, Alexander Verevkin, and Tikronix. Development began around March 2016 and finished 2 months later. It initially had a goal of about 50 million notes, but was later changed to 100 million. The latest version of The Nuker 2 MIDI is F1, released around May 2016 with over 142 million notes. It was also the first version to be made by a team, and the first version specifically aimed at high note counts. It was likely because of this that the criticism of the series began.

 The Nuker 2 - 1.29
 The Nuker 2 - 1.36
 The Nuker 2 - F1

## The Nuker 3

The Nuker 3, originally called “The Supernova,” was the third and installment of The Nuker series. Development started in July 2016, had a goal of 300 million notes and was developed by the XERO MIDI Team until F1, when XERO MIDI was dissolved. The Nuker 3's development was cancelled multiple times during its development. The Nuker 3 reached its final stage in September 2016, but failed to reach the main 300 million note goal. F2 was released later and was essentially F1 with a much larger final crash, which was also used in F3. F2 is unable to be exported completely from the FLP due to FL Studio limitations, although it might be possible to export the MIDI by exporting sections or tracks separately. Although the note count of F2 is thought to be around 268 million, it is likely larger than that. Finally, in October, F3 was released and the note count surpassed the main 300 million goal, turning the version into a 500+ million note MIDI. TN3 F1 and later releases became known as the largest MIDI exported with FL Studio (as of Q3 2016). The MIDI got very popular on YouTube, with multiple videos gaining over 100,000 views. On January 10th, 2021, Lucas9810 was able to export the Full MIDI from FL Studio by exporting each track separately. The Full MIDI turned out to be several million notes smaller (approximately 529 million) than the original merged MIDI, due to overlapping sections.

 The Nuker 3 - 1.2.0
 The Nuker 3 - U20
 The Nuker 3 - F0
 The Nuker 3 - F1
 The Nuker 3 - F3

## The Nuker 4

Although The Nuker 3 was originally going to be the final MIDI in The Nuker series, Emex and Eddywaltz decided to start on a new project, The Nuker 4. This was a new era of the "team". Emex wanted to work with highly trustworthy people, so he invited Eddywaltz and Sir Spork to join the team. Sir Spork left during early development, and did not rejoin the project. Although the original intention of The Nuker series was to be an unofficial sequel to The Destroyer by TheSuperMarioBros2, The Nuker 4 does not contain as many songs created by TSMB2 as previous versions. The vibe of The Nuker 4 is a lot more musical than The Nuker 3, and is considered to be a different style of blacking than the previous MIDIs in the series. The Nuker 4 is still in development, even though it is currently on the F1 Update. Although Emex abandoned both Black MIDI and The Nuker Series, Eddywaltz continued working on it. GamingMIDI was added to the team by Eddywaltz sometime in 2020, and has helped add to the MIDI towards the end of development. Alexander Verevkin has also helped contribute multiple original compositions to the song. The Final 1 version of the MIDI was released on December 31, 2020 after a multiple year hiatus, and a Final 2 version has been confirmed by team members to fix exporting, velocity, and other errors in the MIDI. Although Final 1 has a note count of 2.6 Billion, the actual note count is likely higher because the MIDI had to be edited to be properly exported from FL studio. Although only updates with known information are listed, The Nuker 4 was confirmed to begin on Update 0, reach Update 36, and contain Final versions Final 0, Final 1, and Final 2 (in the future).

 The Nuker 4 - U10
 The Nuker 4 - U20
 The Nuker 4 - U30
 The Nuker 4 - F1
 The Nuker 4 - F2

## Reception and Criticism

Early versions of The Nuker (1.4-1.6) were received relatively positively by the Black MIDI fanbase, but later, Emex decided to shift towards extreme note counts, and subsequent versions contained a much larger note quantity. Today, the Nuker series maintains a positive/mixed reception among the fanbase and a mixed reception on the BMT.

The Nuker series was heavily criticized due to their high/extreme note art to melody ratio, the unoriginality of most of the melodies used (particularly its high usage of TSMB2 melodies on the series), stolen or unoriginal note art usage, and private status - meaning the MIDIs were not publicly available to download. Several high-ranked BMC/BMT members such as TheSuperMarioBros2, Thomass (RetroUniversalHT), and KaleidonKep99 (Bribi) were public detractors of the series.

Nowadays, The series is known and remembered as one of the most popular large Black MIDI mashups ever created, and has inspired others to create similar styled MIDIs. The idea and popularization of medley-mashup MIDIs can partially be attributed to the success of The Nuker Series inside and outside of the Black MIDI Community. Finally, the series created a new "blacking style", which other creators used as inspiration to create their own content.

## Leaking and Unauthorized Sharing

MIDIs in The Nuker Series are almost entirely unavailable to officially download, with the exception of The Tsar Bomb U45's edited Audio MIDI. The private status and popularity of the series have led to high demand for the series, and eventually unauthorized sharing. Although the MIDIs were only given to MIDI creators and trusted individuals, almost every MIDI in the series has been obtained by people outside of the list. Several mass leaks have occurred since the MIDIs were completed, causing damage to the creators and the community.